KGcEs 
2*. 


QUARTEE  CENTURY  CELEBRATION 


Illinois  Collep. 


LIBRARY  OF  THE 
UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 
AT  URBANA-CHAMPAIGN 

C 

Il6cEs 
cop.  2 


fflll.  Hist.  Survey 


QUARTER  CENTURY  CELEBRATION 

AT 

ILLINOIS    COLLEGE. 


HISTORICAL    DISCOURSE 

§g%  frmtont, .  %; 

REV.  J.  M.  STURTEVANT,  D.  D., 


SOCIAL  RE-UNION  OF  THE  FOUNDERS,  PATRONS, 
ALUMNI  AND  FRIENDS  OF  THE  COLLEGE, 

AT  JACKSONVILLE,  ILLINOIS. 
JULY  11,  1855. 


NEW  YORK : 
JOHN  F.  TROW,  PRINTER,  377  &  379  BROADWAY, 


CORNER   OF   WHITE   STREET. 


p. 


ORDER  OF  EXERCISES 

AT  THE  FIRST    PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH    IN  JACKSONVILLE, 
WEDNESDAY  MORNING,   JULY  11,  1855. 

Prayer  was  offered  by  Rev.  THERON  BALDWIN. 

The  following  Hymn,  prepared  for  the  occasion,  was 
then  sung  by  the  choir  and  congregation,  to  the  tune  "  Scots 
wha  ha." 

Welcome,  welcome,  happy  day ! 
Bidding  hopes  and  memories  play, 
Brightly  o'er  our  pilgrim  way, 

Like  the  bow  of  Heaven. 
Not  as  strangers  now  we  meet, 
Friends  and  brothers  here  we  greet, 
Binding  links  at  Learning's  seat 

Ruthless  Time  hath  riven. 

'Neath  a  goodly  tree  we  stand, 
Branching  o'er  a  grateful  land, 
Trained  by  many  an  honored  hand 

M  Towards  the  bending  sky  ; 

Toil  and  prayer  its  roots  have  bound, 
Faith  and  hope  have  twined  it  round, 
Heaven's  own  smile  its  head  hath  crowned, 
Through  the  years  gone  by. 

HigTi  and  broad  its  limbs  have  grown, 
Far  and  wide  its  fruits  are  strown, 
Through  the  world  its  seeds  are  sown, 
For  the  Harvest  Day. 


Thanks  and  honors  then  we  bring, 
Making  all  the  welkin  ring, 
While  with  voice  and  soul  we  sing — 
Live,  oh  live  for  aye  1 

Heavenly  Father,  hear  our  prayer ! 
Make  this  Tree  of  Truth  Thy  care, 
Bid  it  flourish  strong  and  fair, 

While  the  earth  shall  be : 
All  its  honors  shall  be  Thine, 
And  around  the  throne  divine 
Trophies  of  Thy  goodness  shine, 

To  Eternity. 

This  Hymn  was  followed  by  the  delivery  of  the  Historical 
Discourse  by  President  STURTEVANT. 

After  the  delivery  of  the  Discourse,  prayer  was  offered  by 
Eev.  THOMAS  LIPPINCOTT. 

The  closing  Song,  prepared  for  the  occasion,  was  then  sung 
to  the  tune  of  "  Auld  Lang  Syne :  " 

What  thrilling  memories  crowd  and  press 

Upon  this  festal  hour ! 
What  thoughts  and  feelings,  numberless, 

Come  with  unwonted  power  I 

Past  hopes  and  toils,  and  prayers  and  tears — 

The  struggle  stern  and  long — 
Rise  from  the  graves  of  vanished  years, 

A  rushing,  shadowy  throng. 

And  gratitude  to  Him  who  crowned 

Our  toil  with  hope  and  cheer, 
Inspires  the  song  and  swells  the  sound 

We  utter  in  His  ear. 

Exultant  hope,  of  memory  born, 

Inspires  our  closing  lay ; 
And  Faith  e'en  now  can  see  the  morn 

Fast  brightening  into  day. 

I      Benediction. 


HISTORICAL  DISCOURSE. 

MOST  keenly  do  I  feel  that  in  appointing  me  to  give  a  voice 
to  this  occasion,  the  Trustees  of  Illinois  College  have  imposed 
a  very  difficult  and  delicate  task.  At  the  end  of  a  quarter 
of  a  century  since  these  foundations  were  laid,  we  are  assem- 
bled to  review  the  origin  and  the  growth  of  this  institution. 
To  it  I  have  sustained  from  the  very  first  responsible  official 
relations.  I  see  those  around  me  who  were  not  only  eye- 
witnesses of  our  first  beginnings,  and  of  the  successive  steps 
of  our  progress,  but  in  whose  minds  originated  those  first 
conceptions,  from  which  this  enterprise  sprung.  From  that 
day  to  this,  they  have  been  the  watchful  and  patient  guar- 
dians of  this  sacred  cause  ;  while  year  after  year  has  been 
marking  new  wrinkles  on  their  brows,  and  replacing  the  bur- 
nished locks  of  youth  with  the  gray  hairs  of  age.  I  cannot  but 
feel,  that  it  were  fitter  for  them  to  speak  to-day,  and  for  me 
to  listen  in  silence.  So  intimate  has  been  my  connection  with 
this  seminary  of  learning  from  its  origin,  and  from  my  youth, 
that  I  can  hardly  hope  to  give  its  history  with  impartiality. 

But  a  little  reflection  reassures  me.  It  is  not  so  much  the 
work  of  an  impartial  historian  that  is  requisite  to  this  occa- 
sion, as  to  refresh  our  minds  and  invigorate  our  purposes,  by 
recalling  the  spirit  and  the  experiences  of  the  past.  We  who 
served  together  in  our  youth,  are  met,  as  'eterans  of  twenty- 
five  campaigns,  to  revive  the  enthusiasm  which  animated  our 
first  deliberations,  and  the  fervor  of  our  first  prayers  for  the 
success  of  this  cherished  enterprise  of  our  youth.  In  that 
enthusiasm,  that  fervor,  I  have  shared.  It  has  in  no  small 
degree  controlled  the  labors  of  my  life  to  the  present  hour.  I 
have  looked  forward  with  strong  desire  to  this  occasion,  when 


we  should  again  meet  on  this  spot,  which  we  united  a  quarter 
of  a  century  ago  in  consecrating  to  Christian  learning. 

Brethren  beloved,  I  rejoice  that  you  have  come.  Be 
assured  that  there  is  one  heart  here  that  greets  you  with  a 
cordial  welcome.  Inspired  hy  your  presence,  I  feel  that  I  can 
forget  for  a  few  moments  the  present,  and  go  back  in  memory 
to  those  stirring  scenes  of  former  years,  and  retrace  the  path, 
along  which  divine  Providence  has  conducted  us,  if  not  with 
the  impartiality  of  the  historian,  at  least  with  the  intense  fel- 
low-feeling of  a  comrade.  And  I  am  sure  that  you,  at  least, 
will  regard  this  latter  as  essentially  the  spirit  of  the  occasion. 
Let  us,  then,  address  ourselves  to  that  review  of  our  past  his- 
tory to  which  this  occasion  is  consecrated. 

Let  us,  then,  first  trace  out  the  causes  which  led  to  the 
founding  of  Illinois  College,  and  note  the  progress  of  their 
development. 

All  the  separate  systems  of  causation  which  resulted  in 
the  founding  of  Illinois  College,  originated  in  one  and  the 
same  source  ;  that  unfailing,  unflagging  purpose  which  has 
ever  been  cherished  by  the  religious  people  of  this  nation,  to 
disseminate,  by  means  of  Institutions,  the  influence  of  the 
Gospel,  coextensively  with  our  -ever- expanding  population. 
Let  us  devoutly  thank  God,  that  in  our  whole  national  his- 
tory there  is  no  one  force  which  has  acted  with  more  steadiness 
and  uniformity  than  this.  And  there  is  no  feature  of  Ameri- 
can society  which  is  more  gloriously  unique  and  characteristic. 
There  is  nothing  like  it  in  the  history  of  colonization  in  any 
other  nation  or  age  of  the  world. 

Through  our  entire  national  history,  it  is  preeminently  to 
this  cause  that  we  owe  the  inception  and  the  growth  of  our 
whole  system  of  higher  or  liberal  education.  No  one  needs  to 
be  told  that  this  cause  was  the  parent  of  Cambridge,  Yale, 
and  the  other  colleges  of  New  England,  and  not  less  of 
Nassau  Hall ;  and  that  these  are  the  parents  of  the  college 
system  of  the  whole  country. 

It  is  a  source  of  great  encouragement  in  our  work  to  dis- 
cover the  same  cause  at  work  through  all  the  States  of  the 
North- West,  and  to  be  able  to  trace  to  its  influence  the 


founding  of  most  of  the  colleges  now  existing  in  those  States, 
and  of  this  college  in  particular.  In  what  we  have  done  in 
this  cause  in  these  new  States,  we  have  been  impelled  by  the 
same  motives,  and  actuated  by  the  same  principles  with  our 
fathers  of  the  New  England  and  Middle  States  ;  and  this  fact 
gives  great  encouragement  to  hope  that  our  efforts  will  result 
in  a  like  signal  success. 

Illinois  College  resulted  from  the  confluence  of  two  sepa- 
rate streams  of  causation,  though  both  originating  in  the  same 
fountain,  high  up  among  the  mountains.  Both  were  products 
of  that  one  permanent  force,  already  alluded  to,  which  has 
been  the  parent  of  American  Colleges.  It  is  now  necessary 
to  trace  each  of  those  streams,  from  its  origin  to  their  conflu- 
ence, in  the  organization  of  the  institution. 

In  the  year  1826,  Kev.  John  M.  Ellis  (who,  by  the  bless- 
ing of  God,  still  lives,  and  unites  with  us  to-day  in  cele- 
brating this  anniversary),*  was  sent  by  the  then  newly  formed 
American  Home  Missionary  Society,  as  a  missionary  to  the 
infant  settlements  of  this  State.  I  cannot  avoid  feeling  at 
this  point,  that  if  I  would  consult  for  the  highest  gratification 
of  the  audience,  I  should  give  way  while  he  should  describe 
to  us  the  condition  of  this  $tate  of  our  adoption  as  he  then 
found  it.  Madison  and  Montgomery  Counties  were  then  on 

*  Mr.  Ellis  was  providentially  detained,  and  did  not  arrive  in  season  for 
the  "  Historical  Discourse,"  but  took  part  in  the  social  reunion  in  the  evening. 
He  left  this  place  on  the  twelfth  of  July,  in  high  health  and  hope,  and  reached 
his  residence  at  Nashua,  N.  H.,  on  the  nineteenth  of  the  same  month.  During 
his  Western  tour,  he  had  visited  Nebraska,  and  entered  into  arrangements  for 
emigrating  to  that  new  territory  with  a  colony.  He  had,  also,  projected  a 
seminary  of  learning,  to  be  founded  on  a  beautiful  site  which  he  selected.  He 
entered  immediately  on  the  work  of  preparation  for  his  removal  to  a  new 
home  in  the  West  But  God  had  a  better  home  provided  for  him.  After  a 
few  days  of  incessant  labor  in  this  work  of  preparation,  he  was  prostrated  by 
an  acute  disease,  which  terminated  his  earthly  career,  August  6th,  1855,  aged 
62  years. 

His  death  was  like  his  life,  full  of  unwavering  confidence  in  his  Redeemer. 
A  kind  Providence  permitted  him  to  go  and  visit  the  scenes  of  his  early  mis- 
sionary labors — to  stand  again  by  the  graves  of  a  wife  and  two  lovely  children, 
who  had  been  almost  simultaneously  taken  from  him  by  cholera  in  the  year 
1833 — to  rejoice  in  beholding  the  increasing  fruits  of  his  early  labors  and 
self-denials,  and  then  called  him  home.  Who  can  doubt  that  one  so  ready  to 
serve  and  suffer  for  Christ  here,  was  equally  prepared  to  praise  him  on  high  f 


8 

the  northern  frontier  of  settlements.  "  The  Sangamon  Coun- 
try," as  the  region  now  emhraced  in  the  counties  of  Morgan, 
Sangamon,  and  several  adjacent  counties,  was  called,  was  then 
the  new-found-land.  It  was  still  almost  an  unbroken  wilder- 
ness, if,  indeed,  it  be  not  a  violation  of  the  proprieties  of  the 
English  language  to  call  that  a  wilderness  which  combined, 
on  a  scale  of  magnificent  proportions,  the  beauties  of  the 
alluvial  meadow,  the  aristocratic  park,  and  the  most  gorgeous 
flower-garden. 

Mr.  Ellis  found  only  three  Presbyterian  ministers  then  re- 
siding in  the  State  :  Kev.  John  Brich,  living  on  a  farm  near 
this  place,  connected  with  the  Presbytery  of  Missouri,  an 
Englishman  by  birth  and  education,  and  at  that  time  far  ad- 
vanced in  life  ;  Rev.  Stephen  Bliss,  in  Wabash  County,  con- 
nected with  the  Presbytery  of  Indiana  ;  and  Eev.  B.  F.  Spil- 
man,  in  Gallatin  County,  connected  with  a  Presbytery  in 
Kentucky.  Congregational  ministers  or  churches  there  were 
none  nearer  than  the  north-eastern  portion  of  Ohio.  All 
Christian  churches  were  few,  feeble,  and  scattered,  and  the 
bread  of  life  was  precious  because  of  its  scarcity. 

Mr.  Ellis's  first  field  of  ministerial  labors  was  at  Kaskaskia, 
in  Eandolph  County,  where  a  feeble  Presbyterian  church  then 
existed.  But  his  mind  was  too  deeply  imbued  with  that  idea 
of  providing  for  the  permanent  growth  and  power  of  Chris- 
tianity, by  incorporating  it  with  institutions,  which  has  charac- 
terized all  the  migrations  and  colonial  settlements  of  English 
Puritanism,  to  confine  his  thoughts  or  his  labors  entirely 
within  the  circle  of  a  single  pastoral  charge.  He  was  early 
impressed  with  the  necessity  of  taking  some  decisive  step  in 
the  very  infancy  of  the  State,  in  behalf  of  the  cause  of  educa- 
tion. He  early  conceived  the  idea  of  founding  a  seminary 
devoted  to  the  purposes  of  education,  on  a  somewhat  peculiar 
plan,  suggested  in  part  by  the  utter  destitution  of  the  means 
of  education,  in  almost  every  department  which  he  witnessed 
around  him,  and  in  part  by  those  notions  of  combining  a  sys- 
tem of  manual  labor  with  the  daily  routine  of  a  literary  insti- 
tution, which  had  been  at  that  time  newly  broached,  and  were 
received  by  nearly  all  classes  with  great  enthusiasm.  He  was 


9 

not,  however,  strenuous  for  any  of  the  peculiar  features  of  his 
plan.  What  he  was  zealous  for  was  a  Christian  seminary  of 
learning,  on  some  plan  which  would  conciliate  popular  favor, 
and  acquire  the  means  of  extended  influence  and  efficiency. 

He  first  sought  divine  aid.  He  then  began  to  present  his 
views  to  individuals  in  conversation,  as  he  had  opportunity, 
and  endeavored  in  this  way  to  find  those  able  and  willing  to 
cooperate  with  him.  Among  the  friends  with  whom  he  early 
became  acquainted,  and  who  gave  him  their  generous  counte- 
nance and  cooporation,  we  recognize  with  pleasure  the  names 
of  Joseph  Duncan,  John  Tilson,  and  Thomas  Mather  ;  all 
well  known  in  the  subsequent  history  of  this  State,  and  at 
the  time  of  their  respective  deaths  trustees  of  the  college, 
under  its  present  organization.  We  find,  also,  the  names  of 
Samuel  D.  Lockwood  and  Thomas  Lippincott,  members  of 
the  Board  of  Trustees  up  to  the  present  time  :  also,  the  name 
of  William  Collins,  the  father  of  Frederick  Collins,  who  is  an 
acting  trustee.  To  the  hearty  sympathy  and  generous  co- 
operation of  these,  among  other  friends  of  the  cause  in  those 
times  of  its  infancy  and  weakness,  was  its  early  success  in  no 
small  degree  attributable. 

The  first  attempt  at  organization  was  in  Bond  County. 
In  the  summer  of  1827,  Mr.  Ellis  visited  a  settlement  on 
Shoal  Creek  in  that  county,  in  company  with  one,  whose  name 
can  never  perish  from  the  records  of  early  missionary  labor  in 
the  city  of  St.  Louis  and  in  the  surrounding  region,  Kev. 
Salmon  Griddings.  The  object  of  the  visit  was  purely  religous. 
There  existed  along  the  stream  above  named,  a  considerable 
settlement  of  Presbyterians,  composing  the  three  churches  of 
Bethel,  Shoal  Creek,  and  Greenville.  In  this  settlement  Mr. 
Ellis  found  a  warm  sympathy  with  his  plans  in  respect  to 
education,  and  was  himself  stimulated  by  meeting  several 
young  men,  desirous  of  qualifying  themselves  for  the  Christian 
ministry.  The  names  of  some  of  these  young  men  may  be 
found  among  the  early  graduates  of  the  college,  and  some  of 
them  have  occupied,  and  are  still  occupying,  stations  of  great 
usefulness  in  the  Christian  ministry.  It  will  not,  perhaps,  be 
reckoned  invidious  to  mention  the  names  of  Robert  Stewart, 
Robert  W.  Patterson,  and  Alvin  M.  Dixon. 


10 

From  the  interest  here  excited,  immediate  action  resulted. 
Mr.  Ellis  furnished  the  people  of  Shoal  Creek  with  a  copy  of 
his  plan  of  a  seminary  of  learning.  This  was  immediately 
embodied  in  the  form  of  a  subscription  paper,  and  a  progress 
was  made  in  obtaining  subscriptions  for  the  founding  of  the 
projected  seminary  in  that  settlement,  which  was  deemed 
very  encouraging.  This  fact  is  worthy  of  honorable  record, 
for  it  was  the  liberality  of  a  people  living  in  their  new  log 
cabins,  on  new  farms,  yet  to  be  reclaimed  from  the  prairie. 
This  step  had  great  influence  in  giving  a  definite  and  practical 
character  to  the  project. 

In  the  following  autumn  (1827),  the  friends  of  the  enter- 
prise felt  the  need  of  obtaining  for  it  the  countenance  and 
recommendation  of  some  body  of  men,  whose  reputation  for 
wisdom,  piety,  and  learning  would  secure  for  it  a  greater  de- 
gree of  respect  and  confidence  both  at  home  and  abroad.  It 
was  therefore  laid  before  the  Presbytery  of  Missouri  (with 
which  the  Presbyterian  churches  of  this  State  were  then  con- 
nected), at  its  fall  meeting,  and  a  committee  was  appointed 
to  consider  the  subject,  and  report  at  a  subsequent  meeting, 
to  be  held  the  next  spring.  The  committee  consisted  of  John 
M.  Ellis,  Salmon  Giddings,  and  Hiram  Chamberlain,  minis- 
ters, and  Thomas  Lippincott,  then  an  elder  of  the  church  at 
Edwardsville.  They  were  directed  to  confer  with  the  trustees 
of  the  seminary  projected  at  Shoal  Creek,  "  with  a  view  to  an 
arrangement  which  it  was  hoped  would  be  advantageous  both 
to  learning  and  religion." 

Of  this  committee,  Kev.  Hiram  Chamberlain  never  acted, 
and  before  the  meeting  of  the  Presbyteiy  in  the  spring,  the 
committee,  in  common  with  the  whole  West,  was  called  to 
mourn  the  early  death  of  Kev.  Salmon  Giddings,  of  whom  one 
who  knew  him  well,  and  a  co-member  of  the  committee,  says 
— "  the  pure-minded,  far-sighted  Giddings,  in  whom  what- 
ever things  are  lovely  and  of  good  report,  whatsoever  tended 
to  promote  the  welfare  of  man  and  the  glory  of  God,  found  an 
advocate  and  friend." 

The  remaining  two  members  of  the  committee  discharged 
their  duty  with  a  zeal  and  self-denying  efficiency  worthy  of 
the  noble  cause  in  which  they  were  engaged.  They  first 


- 11 

visited  Shoal  Creek,  where  they  found  that  the  zeal  of  the 
people  had  only  increased  with  time.  They  were  more  than 
willing  to  go  forward  immediately  to  erect  a  building,  and 
commence  instruction. 

But  before  entering  into  any  definite  commitments  at 
Shoal  Creek,  the  committee  were  advised,  previous  to  fixing 
on  any  location,  to  make  a  tour  of  exploration  through  the 
new  counties  of  Sangamon,  Morgan,  and  Greene.  Such  a 
tour  was  accordingly  undertaken  by  Messrs.  Ellis  and  Lippin- 
cott,  in  the  month  of  January,  1828.  It  will  readily  be  be- 
lieved that  the  journey  was  not  made  by  railroad.  Up  to  this 
time,  the  scene  of  their  explorations  and  deliberations  had 
been  for  the  most  part  limited  to  the  counties  of  Randolph, 
Bond,  and  Madison,  Mr.  Ellis  still  residing  at  Kaskaskia,  and 
Mr.  Lippincott  at  Edvvardsville. 

The  shortness  of  the  time  allotted  to  this  occasion  will  for- 
bid our  entering  much  into  the  particulars  of  this  tour.  They 
visited  Carrollton,  Apple  Creek  Prairie,  near  the  spot  where 
Whitehall  now  is,  Jacksonville,  and  Springfield,  and  laid  their 
plans  before  the  people.  At  each  of  these  places  they  were 
well  received,  and  much  disposition  was  manifested  by  the 
people  to  assist  in  erecting  the  proposed  seminary,  provided  it 
was  established  among  them.  With  their  visit  to  Jackson- 
ville I  shall  be  more  particular.  :Saturday  night  overtook 
them  on  the  south  side  of  Sandy  Creek,  some  four  or  five  miles 
south  of  Jacksonville.  On  Sabbath  morning  they  were  early 
on  their  way,  that  Mr.  Ellis  might  fulfil  an  appointment  to 
preach,  which  he  had  sent  before  him.  In  the  words  of  one 
of  the  committee — "It  was  a  bright,  a  splendid  mor/iing. 
The  winter  rain  had  covered  every  twig  and  blade  of  prairie 
grass  with  ice,  and  as  the  rising  sun  threw  his  clear  rays 
athwart  the  plain,  myriads  of  gems  sparkled  with  living  light, 
and  Diamond  Grove  might  almost  have  been  fancied  a  vast 
crystal  chandelier."  The  name  of  Diamond  Grove  is,  by  the 
way,  considerably  more  ancient  than  the  name  or  the  existence 
of  Jacksonville,  and  was  used  as  a  designation  of  the  region 
around  it. 

The  most  convenient  place  for  the  people  to  assemble  for 


12' 

worship  on  that  Sabbath,  was  at  the  house  of  Judge  Leeper, 
which  was  about  a  mile  south-east  from  the  public  square,  in 
the  immediate  vicinity  of  the  woodland,  which  borders  on 
the  Mauvaisterre  Creek,  and  nearly  east  of  the  spot  where 
the  Insane  Hospital  now  stands.  John  Leeper,  then  the  pro- 
prietor of  that  farm,  was  a  man  whose  strict  integrity,  en- 
larged public  spirit,  unaffected  piety,  and  comprehensive 
charity,  are  worthy  to  be  held  in  remembrance.  His  removal, 
more  than  twenty  years  ago,  to  another  portion  of  the  State, 
was  a  great  loss  to  this  community.  He  was  one  of  the  origi- 
nal members  of  the  first  Presbyterian  church  in  Jacksonville, 
and  an  elder  in  the  same  till  he  removed  from  the  neighbor- 
hood. He  was  several  years  ago  released  from  his  earthly 
labors. 

Many  of  our  present  population  would  think  it  rather  in- 
convenient to  attend  public  worship  in  a  commodious  edifice 
on  that  site,  much  more  to  go  to  that  spot  to  worship  in  a 
private  dwelling.  And  yet,  if  I  am  rightly  informed,  it  was 
in  pleasant  weather  sometimes  thought  a  privilege,  in  those 
days,  to  worship  in  Judge  Leeper's  barn.  How  much  our 
estimates  of  things  are  changed  by  change  of  circumstances  ! 
Inconvenient,  according  to  our  ideas,  as  the  place  was,  a  con- 
gregation assembled  on  the  Sabbath  referred  to,  and  listened 
to  the  word  with  eagerness. 

Several  days  were  spent  here  by  the  committee  in  visiting 
the  few  people  who  then  resided  here,  in  laying  before  them  at 
a  public  meeting  their  views  in  respect  to  establishing  a  semi- 
nary of  learning,  and  in  viewing  the  various  sites  which  were 
pointed  out  for  the  location  of  the  seminary.  Most,  if  not  all, 
the  citizens  then  residing  here,  entered  warmly  into  the  pro- 
position, and  manifested  a  disposition  to  sustain  the  enterprise 
to  the  extent  of  their  ability.  One  instance  I  may  freely 
speak  of,  because  God  long  ago  removed  the  person  alluded  to 
(Dr.  H.  G.  Taylor)  to  his  heavenly  rest.  He  declared  to  one 
of  the  committee,  that  after  several  years  residence  in  this  wild 
region,  he  had  at  length  entirely  despaired  of  ever  enjoying 
any  advantages  here  for  educating  his  children  ;  that  he  had 
sold  his  furniture,  and  was  about  to  return  to  Vermont.  As 


13 

soon  as  he  was  made  acquainted  with  the  views  of  the  commit- 
tee, and  informed  that  Jacksonville  was  to  be  the  seat  of  the 
proposed  seminary,  he  abandoned  his  purpose,  and  entered 
again  into  business.  But  his  earthly  arrangements  were  soon  to 
terminate.  On  my  arrival  in  this  place,  less  than  two  years 
afterwards,  I  found  a  home  in  his  house.  But  I  only  became 
acquainted  with  him,  that  I  might  mourn  the  early  departure 
of  a  good  man.  A  few  weeks  after  my  arrival,  in  common 
with  a  mourning  community,  I  followed  him  to  his  grave. 

The  names  of  the  living  I  must  for  the  most  part  pass  over 
in  silence.  Of  those  who  have  departed  this  life,  besides  Dr. 
H.  Gr.  Taylor,  the  cause  of  education  is  much  indebted,  for  their 
efforts  in  that  early  day,  to  John  Leeper  and  Win.  C.  Posey. 

To  every  man  and  every  woman  indeed,  who,  at  that  point 
in  our  history,  manifested  a  warm  interest  in  the  founding  of 
a  seminary  of  learning  here,  this  place  owes  a  debt  of  gratitude, 
which  can  never  be  fully  discharged.  It  was  to  that  visit  of 
our  committee  to  this  place,  that  we  trace  those  causes  which 
have  made  Jacksonville  what  it  is  as  a  seat  of  learning  and  a 
centre  of  educational  institutions.  What  men  did  then,  they 
did  not  in  the  abundance  of  their  wealth,  but  in  the  depth  of 
their  poverty. 

The  principal  sites  which  attracted  the  notice  of  the  com- 
mittee were  the  spot  now  known  as  the  mound,  and  the  site 
on  which  the  college  stands. 

After  obtaining  all  the  light  they  could,  in  reference  to 
the  whole  region  explored,  the  committee  came  to  the  conclu- 
sion, that  the  institution  ought  to  be  located  on  the  spot  now 
occupied  by  the  college,  and  made  immediate  arrangements 
for  procuring  the  ground,  which  they  were  enabled  to  do  on 
very  advantageous  terms.  Their  reasons  for  coming  to  such  a 
conclusion  were,  the  amount  subscribed  for  this  place,  in- 
cluding a  donation  in  its  favor  from  William  Collins,  senior, 
of  Collinsville,  of  $400,  exceeding  that  given  for  any  other 
location  ;  the  fertility  of  the  soil  in  the  region  around,  afford- 
ing the  prospect  of  rapid  settlement ;  and  most  of  all,  the  un- 
equalled beauty  of  the  site,  on  which  they  proposed  to  locate 
the  institution.  In  thus  fixing  the  location  and  procuring  the 


14 

site,  the  committee  had  exceeded  their  instructions  ;  but  they 
thought  they  saw  reasons  which  justified  and  required  it. 

It  is  a  pleasing  fact  to  record,  that  the  late  John  Tilson  of 
Quincy,  then  of  Hillsboro,  well  known  as  a  fast  friend  and  lib- 
eral benefactor  of  the  college,  and  for  many  years  previous  to 
his  death  a  trustee,  paid  the  expenses  of  the  committee  on 
this  tour  of  exploration.  Such  contributions  to  the  cause  at 
that  time  were  seeds,  which  have  since  borne  fruit. 

In  the  spring  following  the  committee  made  a  faithful  and 
thorough  report  on  the  whole  subject,  to  the  Presbytery  of  Mis- 
souri, by  whom  they  had  been  appointed.  They  advised  the 
Presbytery  to  recommend  the  enterprise  to  the  confidence  of 
the  Christian  public,  and  to  receive  its  theological  department 
(for  such  a  department  was  a  part  of  the  plan)  under  their 
care  and  direction.  Greatly  to  their  surprise  and  grief,  their 
report  was  unceremoniously  voted  down  by  that  body.  This  re- 
sult was  probably  occasioned  by  local  jealousies,  the  proposed 
location  being  supposed  by  the  Presbytery  of  Missouri  to  be  on 
the  wrong  side  of  the  Mississippi  river.  This  was  not,  however, 
the  ostensible,  reason.  Whatever  the  reason  was,  it  was  felt 
by  the  friends  of  the  enterprise,  as  little  short  of  a  crushing 
blow  ;  so  greatly  did  they  feel  the  need  of  the  countenance  of 
some  respectable  ecclesiastical  body.  This  was  not,  however, 
the  method  by  which  Divine  Providence  chose  to  bring  the 
enterprise  into  notice. 

A  site  had  now  been  agreed  on,  and  the  wisdom  of  that 
decision  has,  from  that  day  to  this,  rarely  been  called  in  ques- 
tion. A  plan  for  the  institution  had  been  adopted,  which, 
however,  has  since  been  greatly  modified,  and  something  short 
of  $3000  had  been  procured  in  subscriptions.  This  was  en- 
tirely inadequate  even  for  a  commencement,  much  more  for 
filling  out  so  vast  and  complicated  a  plan  as  the  one  proposed, 
embracing  primary,  collegiate,  and  theological  departments,  to- 
gether with  arrangements  for  manual  labor.  Of  this  the  friends 
of  the  institution  were  well  aware  :  and  yet,  in  the  infancy  of 
the  State,  they  saw  little  present  prospect  of  increasing  their 
resources  much  from  the  region  around.  They  were  forced  to 
look  abroad  for  aid.  Things  remained  nearly  in  this  posture 


15 

for  several  months,  during  which  very  little  was  accomplished 
in  furtherance  of  the  object.  Mr.  Ellis  was  a  missionary  of  the 
A.  H.  M.  S.,  at  this  time  located  at  Jacksonville,  having  re- 
moved his  residence  to  this  place,  in  the  year  1828.  In  his 
report  to  the  Society  in  September  of  that  year,  Mr.  Ellis  made 
a  brief  statement  respecting  the  projected  seminary,  and  ap- 
pealed to  the  Christian  public  for  aid.  The  part  of  his  report 
which  related  to  this  subject,  was  published  in  the  December 
number  of  the  Home  Missionary. 

In  the  mean  time  Divine  Providence  was  preparing  another 
train  of  causes,  in  quite  another  quarter,  which  have  exerted 
the  most  important  influence  in  organizing  and  founding  the 
institution,  and  commending  it  to  public  favor.  At  no  period 
in  our  religious  history  has  the  attention  of  candidates  for  the 
Christian  ministry  in  our  theological  seminaries  been  so  strongly 
turned  towards  the  West,  or  the  claims  of  the  home  missionary 
enterprise  so  adequately  appreciated  by  them,  as  about  the 
time  of  which  we  are  speaking.  The  almost  simultaneous  dis- 
covery of  the  vast  resources  of  the  four  great  States  of  Indiana, 
Illinois,  Missouri,  and  Michigan,  and  the  rapidity  of  their  set- 
tlement, had  opened  the  eyes  of  enlightened  Christians,  and 
especially  of  candidates  for  the  ministry,  to  a  view  of  the  vast- 
ness  of  our  national  destiny,  and  the  urgency  of  our  Home 
Missionary  work,  never  taken  before.  It  was  then  that  the 
truth,  now  so  familiar,  first  broke  upon  our  vision,  that  these 
States,  and  others  adjacent,  were  to  be  filled  with  a  multitu- 
dinous and  influential  population  during  the  present  genera- 
tion ;  and  that  on  us  God  was  placing  the  responsibility  of 
planting  the  institutions  of  the  Gospel  over  all  these  vast  re- 
gions. The  conception  was  then  as  new  as  it  was  vast  and 
stimulating.  And  to  the  honor  of  the  students  of  theology  it 
should  be  said,  that  the  hearts  of  many  among  them  responded, 
"  here  are  we,  send  us."  I  have  no  disposition  to  claim  any  thing 
for  the  Christian  ministry  which  it  does  not  merit ;  but  those 
who  assert  that  theological  students  are  entirely  mercenary  in 
their  views,  or  consult  invariably  their  own  ease  and  temporal 
advantage  in  their  choice  of  a  field  of  labor,  know  little  of  what 
was  going  on  at  that  time  in  our  theological  seminaries. 


16 

There  existed  at  that  time,  in  the  theological  department  of 
Yale  College,  a  society  of  inquiry  concerning  missions,  holding 
monthly  meetings,  for  the  purpose  of  procuring  and  circulating 
among  the  students  accurate  information  relative  to  the  va- 
rious fields  of  missionary  labor,  both  domestic  and  foreign  ;  espe- 
cially such  information  as  might  enable  each  one  to  act  wisely, 
in  the  choice  of  his  own  field  of  labor.     At  the  meeting  of  this 
society,  held  Nov.  25th,  1828,  an  essay  was  read  by  Theron 
Baldwin,  in  which  he  exhorted  his  brethren  with  much  fervor 
and  power,  to  consecrate  their  lives  in  the  true  spirit  of  apos- 
tolic self-denial,  to  the  great  Christian  enterprise  of  universal 
evangelization.    He  held  up  to  our  view  such  illustrious  exam- 
ples of  Christian  consecration  as  Martin  Luther,  David  Brain- 
erd,  Henry  Martin,  John  Howard,  and  Samuel  J.  Mills,  and 
exhorted  us  to  gaze  no  longer  "  at  our  own  little  star-like  in- 
terests," but  to  bring  up  the  sun,  that  they  may  fade  into 
their  comparative  insignificance.    He  spoke  to  youthful  hearts, 
buoyant  with  hope,  and  in  full  sympathy  with  the  speaker 
and  his  theme.     As  Mason  Grosvenor,  a  member  of  that  so- 
ciety, who  had  participated  for  some  time  in  the  awakened 
interest  in  Home  Missions,  was  returning  from  that  meeting  to 
his  room,  under  the  solemn  majesty  of  a  starlight  evening,  the 
thought  occurred  to  him,  that  he  and  his  comrades  must  at 
once  act,  as  well  as  feel  and  talk  and  pray  ;  that  an  Associa- 
tion ought  to  be  formed  among  them,  in  which  they  should  en- 
ter into  mutual  pledges  to  one  another  and  to  God,  that  they 
would  devote  their  lives  to  the  work  of  Home  Missions  ;   that 
some  portion  of  the  newly-opened  Home  Missionary  field  should, 
after  proper  inquiry,  be  selected,  where  the  members  of  the  As- 
sociation  could  find  locations  as  home  missionaries  in  each 
other's  vicinity,  and  thus  aid,  encourage,  and  stimulate  each 
other  in  their  work.     It  was  a  part  of  the  original  concep- 
tion that  they  should  unite  their  efforts  in  founding  an  insti- 
tution of  learning,  to  grow  up  with  the  community,  and  be  to 
the  surrounding  region  what  a  New  England  college  is  to  the 
population  around  it.     The  thought  seemed  to  him  feasible, 
and  interested  his  mind  very  deeply  ;  he  soon  began  to  confer 
on  the  subject  with  such  of  his  brethren  as  he  thought  fittest 


17 

to  cooperate  in  such  an  undertaking,  and  most  likely  to  sym- 
pathize with  him  in  his  views. 

The  suggestion  had  awakened  much  interest,  and  was  fast 
ripening  into  definite  action,  when  Mr.  Ellis's  report  in  the 
Home  Missionary  already  mentioned,  met  the  eye  of  the  bro- 
ther in  whose  mind  the  idea  had  originated.  The  thought  at 
once  occurred  to  him,  that  perhaps  that  was  the  field  to  which 
God  was  in  his  providence  pointing  him  and  his  brethren. 
Without  delay,  he  wrote  to  Mr.  Ellis,  stating  to  him  what  he 
had  been  thinking  of,  and  calling  for  specific  information 
respecting  this  field  of  missionary  labor  and  the  projected 
seminary  ;  and  also  called  the  attention  of  his  brethren  to  this 
interesting  item  of  intelligence  ;  several  were  intensely  inter- 
ested in  the  general  plan,  and  in  the  statements  of  Mr.  Ellis's 
report  in  particular.  As,  however,  Mr.  Ellis  had  been  written 
to,  it  was  deemed  best  to  delay  definite  action  till  his  answer 
should  be  received. 

In  due  time  the  expected  reply  came  to  hand,  laying  be- 
fore those  young  brethren  the  promise  of  vast  usefulness 
which  this  open  field  then  presented,  and  warmly  urging  them 
to  come  and  participate  in  its  labors.  It  would  be  difficult 
for  any  one  now  to  appreciate  the  effect  on  those  youthful 
minds  of  the  view  of  this  land  of  promise,  as  it  was  spread  out 
before  their  imaginations  by  the  fervid  words  of  the  pioneer 
Missionary.  It  must  be  borne  in  mind,  that  at  that  time  far 
less  was  known  in  New  England  of  Illinois,  than  we  now  know 
of  Oregon.  Its  soil,  its  climate,  its  resources,  and  its  pros- 
pects of  a  rapid  growth  in  wealth  and  population,  had  scarcely 
at  all  arrested  public  and  general  attention.  It  was  known 
that  it  was  a  State  of  the  Union,  but  its  few  and  scattered  peo- 
ple had  attracted  little  attention,  and  excited  little  interest. 
It  was  supposed  to  be  a  region  of  vast  prairies,  which  could  not 
be  settled  for  centuries  for  want  of  timber.  Here  was  a  por- 
trait drawn  by  an  eye-witness,  who  was  surveying  the  whole 
region  from  the  point  of  vision  of  one,  himself  engaged  with 
his  whole  heart  in  founding  among  these  infant  settlements 
and  gigantic  resources,  the  institutions  of  Christian  society. 
The  enthusiasm  excited  by  a  truthful  picture  drawn  from  such 
2 


18 

a  stand-point,  was  not  less  fervid,  and  infinitely  more  deep  and 
enduring  than  that  awakened  by  the  appeal  of  Peter  the  Her- 
mit in  his  crusades.  There  were  no  prospects  of  wealth  or 
worldly  fame,  there  was  no  promise  of  exemption  from  stern 
self-denials  and  hardships,  no  prospect  of  a  life  of  literary  lei- 
sure and  scholarly  renown  ;  but  there  was  a  nation  to  be 
founded  in  a  single  generation,  institutions  to  be  planted 
which  should  become  the  vital  organs  of  a  mighty  people, 
and  exert  a  saving  influence  on  millions  yet  unborn.  These 
were  the  lofty  and  soul-inspiring  considerations  in  view  of 
which  these  young  men  were  required  to  choose  the  path- 
way of  their  future  life.  Early  in  the  year  1829  seven  mem- 
bers of  the  Theological  department  of  Yale  College  were  found 
prepared  to  subscribe  their  names  to  a  solemn  pledge  to  one 
another  and  to  God,  to  devote  their  lives  to  the  cause  of  Christ 
in  the  distant  and  then  wild  State  of  Illinois.  It  is  probably 
due  to  this  occasion  to  give  their  names.  They  are  as  follows  : 
Mason  Grosvenor,  in  whose  mind  the  plan  originated  ;  Theron 
Baldwin,  John  F.  Brooks,  Elisha  Jenney,  William  Kirby,  Asa 
Turner,  and  the  name  of  the  individual  who  is  now  addressing 
you.  Mr.  Grosvenor  was  prevented  from  entering  on  the  work 
for  many  years,  through  the  failure  of  his  health.  All  the 
rest  emigrated  to  this  State,  immediately  after  completing 
their  course  of  study  at  the  Theological  Seminary.  More  than 
a  quarter  of  a  century  has  passed  since  we  entered  into  this 
covenant,  and  yet,  with  one  exception,  by  the  wonderful 
kindness  of  God,  all  are  here  ;  though  in  the  body  brother 
Kirby  is  not.  He  has  ceased  from  his  labors  and  gone  home. 
He  redeemed  that  pledge  to  the  letter  till  the  hour  when  God 
took  him.  He  died  with  his  armor  on.  He  was  cut  down 
suddenly  by  an  attack  of  fever  in  Dec.  1851. 

The  communication  from  Mr.  Ellis  above  alluded  to,  con- 
tained an  outline  of  the  plan  of  the  proposed  seminary.  This 
plan,  it  has  already  been  stated,  was  the  product,  in  a  great 
measure,  of  the  infantile  condition  of  the  community,  the 
scantiness  of  its  resources,  and  the  destitution  of  nearly  every 
means  of  education,  and  therefore  better  fitted  for  a  tempo- 
rary purpose,  than  for  the  permanent  foundation  of  a  system 


of  liberal  education.  So  thought  Mr.  Ellis  and  other  friends 
on  the  ground.  The  young  men  at  New  Haven  therefore  set 
themselves  immediately  at  the  work  of  preparing  and  suggest- 
ing such  modifications  of  the  plan  as  were  necessary  to  adapt 
it  to  become  the  substantial  basis  of  a  university.  In  making 
these  suggestions,  they  scarcely  relied  at  all  on  their  own 
judgment,  but  consulted  the  venerable  men  by  whom  they 
were  surrounded,  who  had  won  a  national  reputation  as  the 
guardians  of  that  venerable  university,  of  which  they  were 
still  pupils.  To  President  Day,  Prof.  C.  A.  Goodrich,  and 
Prof.  N.  W.  Taylor,  were  they  especially  indebted,  for  their 
patient  attention  to  their  inquiries,  and  the  lessons  of  practi- 
cal wisdom  imparted.  When  their  investigations  were  finished, 
and  their  plan  completed,  they  forwarded  it  to  the  trustees 
of  the  seminary  at  Jacksonville  in  the  form  of  conditions,  on 
which  they  would  unite  in  building  up  a  seminary  of  learning 
in  this  place.  Those  conditions  were  immediately  laid  before 
the  trustees  and  subscribers,  and  received  their  sanction. 
They  are  the  basis  of  the  institution  up  to  the  present  time. 
The  fundamental  principles  are  thus  expressed. 

That  there  be  a  Board  of  Trustees,  composed  of  fifteen 
members  besides  the  President  of  the  Institution,  who  shall 
have  the  entire  direction  of  the  seminary,  independent  of  any 
extraneous  influence,  except  that  they  shall  be  sacredly  pledged 
to  appropriate  all  donations,  which  they  may  choose  to  receive, 
according  to  the  expressed  wish  of  the  donors. 

2.  That  the  majority  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  ever  after 
its  organization,  have  power  to  fill  all  vacancies  occurring  in 
the  same. 

The  true  spirit  of  these  two  short  sentences  is  to  be  in- 
ferred from  the  fact  that  the  venerable  advisers  whom  we  had 
consulted,  had  explicitly  warned  us  against  subjecting  the  in- 
stitution either  to  political  or  denominational  control.  Such 
were  the  views  at  that  time  held  and  expressed  by  the  vener- 
able men  who  presided  over  Yale  College.  And  there  were 
no  dissenting  voices.  It  is  believed,  also,  that  the  lapse  of  a 
quarter  of  a  century  has  in  this  respect  wrought  no  change. 

If  there  is  either  wisdom  or  folly  in  these  principles,  the 


20 

gentlemen  who  proposed  them  as  the  foundation  principles  of 
this  institution  are  neither  entitled  to  praise,  nor  exposed  to 
censure.  They  embody  the  judgment  of  New  England,  in  re- 
lation to  the  constitution  of  colleges  as  it  then  was,  and  as  it 
still  is.  And  surely  if  any  portion  of  the  United  States  has 
been  successful  in  founding  colleges,  it  is  new  England. 

Consistently  with  these  principles,  as  they  have  ever  been 
understood  by  those  by  whom  they  were  originally  propound- 
ed, the  institution  cannot  be  rendered  subservient  to  the 
promotion  of  mere  denominational  interests.  Such  a  use  of 
its  funds  and  its  influence  would  be  a  perversion,  the  authors 
of  which  would  deserve  the  severest  censure.  To  the  cause 
of  evangelical  religion  the  resources  of  the  institution  are,  and 
from  the  first  have  been,  sacredly  pledged  :  for  the  promotion 
and  advancement  of  denominational  interests  they  were  never 
intended,  and  cannot  be  used  without  guilt. 

The  plan  having  new  been  settled,  action  immediately 
followed.  One  of  the  proposed  conditions  was,  that  the  young 
men  at  Yale  College  should  raise  the  sum  of  $10,000  for  the 
purposes  of  the  institution.  For  fulfilling  this  pledge,  they 
relied  entirely  on  the  encouragement  they  had  already  received 
from  numerous  individuals,  whom  they  were  entitled  to  regard 
as  representing  the  Christian  public.  To  the  liberality  of  that 
public  they  must  now  appeal.  In  the  spring  of  1829,  Mr. 
Ellis  visited  New  England  and  the  Middle  States  as  an  agent 
of  the  proposed  seminary,  and  repaired  immediately  to  New 
Haven,  to  meet,  face  to  face,  the  friends  with  whom  he  had 
already  contracted  so  intimate  an  alliance.  It  was,  to  all  con- 
cerned, an  interview  of  surpassing  interest.  Plans  were  at 
once  laid  for  presenting  the  appeal  to  the  public  by  the  agency 
of  Mr.  Ellis,  with  the  cooperation  of  the  association  at  New 
Haven.  All  the  members  engaged,  to  a  greater  or  less  extent, 
in  the  work  of  solicitation.  The  conception  was  a  novel  one, 
and  excited  great  interest  at  many  points  in  the  New  England 
and  Middle  States,  and  in  a  few  months  the  New  Haven  asso- 
ciation was  able  to  redeem  its  pledge. 

Great  assistance  was  derived  in  the  prosecution  of  this 
work  from  the  cooperation  of  the  Home  Missionary  Society, 


21 

especially  from  its  then  able  and  efficient  secretary,  Rev. 
Absalom  Peters,  and  the  lamented  Rev.  Chas.  Hall.  These 
gentlemen,  together  with  many  other  active  and  influential 
friends  of  the  A.  H.  M.  Society  in  New  York,  were  consulted 
in  the  very  outset  by  the  young  men  at  New  Haven,  and  the 
enterprise  received  from  that  quarter  warm  sympathy  and 
cordial  support.  Among  the  names  of  gentlemen  in  New 
York  who  commended  it  to  the  confidence  of  the  public,  are 
found  those  of  Rev.  Gardiner  Spring,  D.D.,  Rev.  John 
Matthews,  D.D.,  and  Rev.  Matthias  Bruen. 

It  is  worthy  of  remark  at  this  point,  that  this  agency  in 
behalf  of  a  seminary  ef  learning  at  Jacksonville  exerted  an 
influence  on  the  population  of  this  place,  and  of  the  whole 
State,  of  the  importance  of  which  no  one  has  any  conception, 
whose  mind  has  not  been  turned  especially  to  the  subject. 
As  has  been  said,  up  to  that  time  almost  nothing  was  known 
in  the  Eastern  and  Middle  States  of  the  soil,  climate,  resources 
and  prospects  of  the  State.  The  agents  who  presented  this 
cause  to  the  liberality  of  the  Christian  public,  lifted  the  veil, 
and  made  tens  of  thousands  acquainted  with  the  facts.  A 
very  lively  interest  was  awakened.  As  a  consequence,  a  stream 
of  emigration  began  to  flow  in  this  direction,  which  has  not 
yet  ceased.  Thousands  of  excellent  families  may  be  found 
living  among  us,  whose  attention  was  first  called  to  this  State 
by  the  statements  of  these  agents.  These  emigrants  were  a 
far  more  valuable  acquisition  to  our  wealth,  to  our  intelligence, 
and  to  the  strength  and  durability  of  our  institutions  of  educa- 
tion and  religion,  than  the  funds  directly  contributed. 

Several  new  members  were  also  added  to  the  association  in 
the  Theological  department  of  Yale  College,  who,  on  the  com- 
pletion of  their  theological  curriculum,  engaged  in  the  work  of 
Home  Missions  in  this  State  ;  among  them  William  Carter 
and  Albert  Hale,  now  members  of  the  Board  of  Trustees, 
Flavel  Bascom,  Romulus  Barnes,  and  Lucien  Farnham,  the 
latter  from  the  Theological  Seminary  at  Andover. 

In  the  fall  of  1829,  two  members  of  the  association  at  New 
Haven,  Theron  Baldwin  and  your  speaker,  emigrated  to  this 
State,  charged  with  the  duty  of  uniting  with  contributors  to 


22 

{ 

the  institution  here,  in  constituting  a  Board  of  Trust  accord- 
ing to  the  plan  already  agreed  on,  and  making  arrangements 
to  commence  instruction. 

On  our  arrival  at  St.  Louis,  then  a  village  not  much  more 
populous,  nor  half  as  beautiful  as  Jacksonville  is  to-day,  we 
found  no  public  conveyance  to  Jacksonville  of  any  sort.  The 
rivers  were  open  and  in  good  stage,  but  there  was  no  regular 
navigation  on  the  Illinois,  and  no  boat  was  likely  to  go  up. 
There  was  no  stage  to  this  place,  and  no  mail,  except  one 
carried  on  horseback  once  a  week  from  Springfield.  I  pro- 
cured a  carriage  and  driver  for  myself  and  wife  and  two  ladies 
accompanying  us,  and  left  my  friend,  Mr.  Baldwin,  to  devise 
the  best  plan  he  could  for  reaching  our  common  destination. 
The  route  from  St.  Louis  to  this  place  was  nearly  the  same 
then  as  the  one  now  generally  travelled.  But  it  was  a  journey 
through  a  wilderness.  Delhi,  Jerseyville,  Kane,  Whitehall, 
and  Manchester  were  not  even  in  name.  Alton  could  hardly 
be  said  to  be.  Carrollton  was  for  the  most  part  a  cluster  of 
log-houses.  It  was  a  dreary  journey,  in  mud  and  melting 
snow,  through  a  region,  much  of  which  seemed  incapable  of 
settlement  for  a  generation  to  come,  on  account  of  the  scarcity 
of  wood.  The  unfortunate  detention  of  our  vehicle  in  one  of 
those  mud-holes,  which  are  one  of  the  first  marks  of  commen- 
cing civilization,  compelled  us>like  Mr.  Ellis,  to  pass  Saturday 
night  on  the  other  side  of  Sandy  Creek.  The  inconvenience 
to  which  we  were  subjecting  the  family,  in  the  small  cabin 
where  we  stopped,  compelled  us  to  resume  our  journey  with 
the  dawning  day.  It  was  on  a  bright  Sabbath  morning,  the 
fifteenth  day  of  November,  a  little  after  sunrise,  that  we  cams 
in  sight  of  Jacksonville.  It  was  already  called,  in  the  ordi- 
nary speech  of  the  people,  a  beautiful  place.  I  had  often 
beard  it  called  so  myself;  and  beautiful  it  was,  when  the 
bright  face  of  spring  was  again  spread  over  it,  though  its  beauty 
was  God's  work,  and  not  man's.  It  was  at  that  time  little 
better  than  a  group  of  log  cabins.  The  prairie  was  in  the 
sombre  brown  of  autumn,  with  scarce  a  tree  or  shrub  to  relieve 
the  monotony.  To  the  north-west,  however,  the  view  was 
shut  in  by  an  elevation,  which  a  New  England  er  might  almost 


23 

recognize  as  a  hill.  It  was  crowned  with  a  natural  grove. 
Against  the  front  of  the  grove  was  already  projected  an  edifice 
of  brick,  which  at  that  distance,  and  on  such  an  elevation, 
made  an  appearance  of  considerable  dignity  and  magnificence. 
The  site  on  which  it  stood  charmed  every  beholder.  It  was 
the  south  half  of  what  is  now  our  college  buildings  then  in 
the  process  of  erection. 

We  were  most  cordially  welcomed  at  the  humble  but  none 
the  less  hospitable  dwelling  of  Mr.  Ellis.  He  was  still  absent 
at  the  East,  but  his  house  was  in  charge  of  one,  whose  heart 
was  the  abode  of  every  noble  and  generous  sentiment.  God 
only  knows  what  the  cause  of  education  and  of  religion  in  -this 
State  owes,  to  her  wisdom,  energy,  and  cheerful  self-denial. 
May  her  spirit  always  dwell  in  the  wives  and  mothers  of  this 
place.  There  was  one  too  in  that  group  of  newly  arrived, 
whose  loveliness  has  long  been  shining  in  a  higher  sphere,  whose 
services  to  Illinois  College  are  recorded  only  in  the  hearts  of 
those  who  knew  her  well,  and  in  heaven.  They  were  lovely 
and  noble  spirits  both.*  Earth  seemed  darker  than  before, 
when  they  were  removed.  It  is  not  unbefitting  this  occasion 
to  drop  a  tear  at  the  remembrance  of  their  early — to  our  short 
vision,  too  early  removal  from  us.  ? 

Our  arrival  was  expected,  and  preaching  was  appointed. 
At  the  proper  hour  we  repaired  to  the  place  of  worship. 
What  would  our  people  say  now,  if  we  were  to  invite  them  to 
assemble  in  such  a  place  for  public  worship  ?  It  was  a  log 
school-house,  some  twenty  feet  square,  with  a  floor  of  split 
logs,  and  seats,  so  far  as  there  were  any  of  the  same,  with 
holes  bored  in  them,  and  sticks  driven  in  for  legs.  The 
chimney  was  of  the  style  and  structure  most  approved  for  log- 
cabins,  built  out  of  doors,  of  logs  and  sticks,  and  occupying  near 
half  of  one  side  of  the  room.  Such  was  its  condition  the  first 
time  I  met  the  congregation  in  that  place.  Before  the  next 
Sabbath  the  chimney  had  either  fallen  down  or  been  removed, 
in  preparation  for  an  arrangement  for  warming  the  house  by 
a  stove.  For  two  or  three  Sabbaths  we  met  there  before 
this  vast  opening  in  one  side  was  again  closed  up.  Desk  or 

*  Mrs.  Frances  Ellis  and  Mrs.  Elizabeth  M.  Sturtevant. 


24 

pulpit  there  was  none,  an  awkward  circumstance  to  one  just 
from  the  school  of  theology,  with  no  faith  in  the  possiblity  of 
preaching  without  a  manuscript  before  him.  Yet  on  that 
day  this  was  the  unlucky  predicament  of  your  speaker.  On  the 
first  Sabbath  the  audience  was  small,  and  a  chair  was  set  for 
the  preacher  in  one  corner  of  the  room.  On  the  second  Sab- 
bath the  house  was  crowded.  The  chair  was  missing.  The 
deficiency  of  seats  had  been  supplied  by  bringing  in  rails  from 
a  neighboring  fence,  and  laying  them  across  from  one  seat  to 
another,  and  thus  covering  over  the  whole  area  with  "  sit- 
tings." Those  who  could  not  be  thus  accommodated,  crowded 
around  the  ample  opening  where  the  chimney  had  been,  and 
heard  standing  in  the  open  air.  There  was  a  state  of  democra- 
tic equality  in  the  congregation,  which  would  have  done  good 
to  the  heart  of  a  thorough-going  leveller.  The  preacher  found 
a  seat  where  he  could  among  the  congregation,  laid  his  Bible 
and  hymn  book  on  the  rail  by  his  side,  and  rose  in  his  place 
and  addressed  the  congregation  as  best  he  might.  You  may 
be  sure  that  he  soon  found  it  a  poor  place  for  reading 
manuscript  sermons.  1  thought  my  own  prospects  by  no 
means  flattering.  I  have  no  doubt  my  hearers  were  of  the 
same  opinion.  I  hope  I  shall  be  excused  for  saying,  that  I 
desire  never  to  cease  being  grateful  to  this  people  for  their 
forbearance  to  me,  in  those  first  efforts.  They  were  hungry 
for  the  word  of  God,  and  were  willing  to  let  an  inexperienced 
youth,  who  was  trying  to  preach  the  Gospel,  live  and  learn. 

Now  that  I  am  on  the  matter  of  the  old  log  school-house 
I  may  as  well  finish.  In  a  few  weeks  a  good  warm  stove  was 
provided,  the  opening  where  the  chimney  had  been  was  filled 
up  with  logs,  and  a  window,  and  a  rude  pulpit  was  erected. 
In  this  condition,  it  served  for  many  months  as  a  house  of 
worship,  and  in  it  there  was,  I  verily  believe,  a  spiritual  sin- 
cerity of  worship,  and  a  heartfelt  communion  of  saints,  which 
are  often  wanting  in  more  stately  edifices. 

Mr.  Baldwin  and  myself  were  cordially  received  by  the 
Trustees  and  subscribers  to  the  proposed  institution,  who 
had  been  engaged  with  considerable  energy  in  erecting  the 
edifice  already  referred  to.  A  meeting  of  the  subscribers  was 
called  to  assemble  at  the  seminary  edifice,  on  the  18th  Dec. 


25 

1829,  for  the  purpose  of  organizing  a  Board  of  Trustees,  ac- 
cording to  the  terms  of  agreement  already  stated. 

On  the  day  appointed,  a  goodly  number  assembled  amid 
the  shavings  and  carpenters'  benches  of  the  building  in  process 
of  erection.  The  deliberations  of  the  meeting  were  entirely 
harmonious.  Messrs.  Baldwin  and  Sturtevant  presented  the 
evidence  of  the  willingness  of  the  Association  to  fulfil  their 
part  of  the  conditions,  and  a  Board  of  Trustees  was  organized, 
consisting  of  Hon-  S.  D.  Lockwood,  John  P.  Wilkinson,  Wm. 
0.  Posey,  Theron  Baldwin,  John  F.  Brooks,  Mason  Grosvenor, 
Elisha  Jenney,  Wm.  Kirby,  J.  M.  Sturtevant  and  Asa  Turner, 
ten  in  number.  The  remaining  places  were  left  to  be  filled  at 
a  future  time.  » 

On  motion  of  Hon.  James  Hall  of  Vandalia,  well  known 
both  before  and  since  that  time  in  the  literary  world,  it  was 
resolved  unanimously,  that  the  institution  be  called  "  ILLINOIS 
COLLEGE."  Whether  Judge  Hall  had  consulted  with  any 
other  persons  on  the  subject  I  am  not  informed,  but  I  had  no 
knowledge  of  his  motion,  till  he  offered  it  to  the  meeting.  I 
think  it  was  offered  without  any  consultation  or  consent. 

Pledges  had  already  been  made  to  the  public  by  the  trus- 
tees previously  acting,  that  instruction  should  be  commenced 
on  the  first  Monday  in  January  following.  I  was  myself  ap- 
pointed a  teacher,  and  for  the  time  being  sole  teacher,  and 
arrangements  were  made  for  opening  the  institution  in  accord- 
ance with  these  pledges. 

When  the  day  appointed  arrived,  we  repaired  to  the  still 
unfinished  edifice,  then  a  full  mile  distant  from  Jacksonville, 
where  we  found  the  room  which  has  ever  since  been  used  as  a 
chapel,  finished,  lacking  the  desk,  the  lathing  and  plastering, 
and  for  the  most  part  the  seating.  The  rest  of  the  building 
was  in  a  still  more  unfinished  condition.  Of  course  its  im- 
pression was  far  enough  from  inviting.  Nine  pupils  presented 
themselves  on  that  day.  They  were  Alvin  M.  Dixon,  James 
P.  Stewart,  from  Bond  County,  Merril  Rattan  and  Hampton 
Rattan  from  Greene  County,  Samuel  R.  Simms,  Chatham  H. 
Simms,  Rollin  Mears,  Charles  B.  Barton,  and  a  youth  by  the 
name  of  Miller,  of  Morgan  County.  They  were  all  to  begin 


26 

their  studies  in  the  first  rudiments,  for  it  is  not  known  that 
there  was  at  that  time,  in  the  State,  a  single  youth  fitted  for 
the  freshman  class  in  an  American  college.  The  pupils  were 
called  together,  a  portion  of  Scripture  was  read,  a  few  remarks 
were  made  on  the  magnitude  of  the  errand  which  had  brought 
us  there.  It  was  said  that  we  were  that  day  to  open  a  foun- 
tain, for  coming  generations  to  drink  at.  Prayer  was  ofTered 
to  Almighty  God.  After  this,  instruction  was  commenced, 
and  by  the  blessing  of  God  has  to  this  day  never  been  inter- 
mitted, except  for  customary  vacations.  Illinois  College  was 
during  that  year  a  day  school,  with  one  teacher,  and  from 
twenty-five  to  thirty  pupils. 

During  the  year,  however,  Kev.  Edward  Beecher,  D.  D., 
of  Boston,  was  elected  President  of  the  institution.  He 
entered  on  the  duties  of  his  office  in  the  month  of  December, 
and  delivered  his  -inaugural  address  at  the  third  public  anni- 
versary. 

Two  enterprises  entered  on  the  next  year,  to  both  of  which 
the  Trustees  were  almost  irresistibly  impelled  by  the  public 
opinion  of  the  time,  have  proved  unprofitable  to  all  concerned, 
and  among  the  chief  sources  of  the  embarrassments  of  the  in- 
stitution. They  were  the  erection  of  the  large  building,  de- 
stroyed by  fire  in  1852,  and  the  establishment  of  a  system  of 
manual  labor,  as  conducive  to  the  health,  and  with  the  hope 
of  reducing  expenses.  , 

The  erection  of  a  large  building,  affording  lodgings  for 
students,  was  in  accordance  with  a  long  established  and  then 
unquestioned  opinion  of  the  necessity  of  such  an  outlay.  It 
was  an  error,  for  which  not  the  Trustees  but  the  public  opinion 
of  the  time  was  responsible.  We  perhaps  ought  to  give 
thanks,  that  long  before  the  building  was  destroyed,  we  had 
become  entirely  convinced  of  the  badness  of  the  system,  and 
prepared  to  adopt  a  better. 

The  scheme  of  manual  labor  schools  was  one  of  the  then 
newborn  favorites  of  the  more  ardent  school  of  progressives, 
but  had  been  very  generally  received  by  the  public  mind,  and 
must  needs  be  subjected  to  the  test  of  experience.  This  col- 
lege came  into  being  just  at  the  unlucky  moment,  when  it 


27 

must  needs  bear  a  part  in  the  experiment.  Some  of  us,  how- 
ever, were  unbelieving  from  the  first,  and  entered  on  the  ex- 
periment with  reluctance.  Perhaps  I  sliould  not  be  claiming 
more  than  is  due  by  stating,  that  we  were  among  the  first  to 
discover  and  expose  the  fallacy,  and  abandon  the  scheme  as 
impracticable,  not  however  without  sustaining  serious  pecuniary 
loss.  Had  the  money  invested  in  our  students'  lodgings,  and  our 
manual  labor  arrangements,  been  placed  at  interest,  the  college 
would  have  known  much  less  of  pecuniary  embarrassment. 

From  the  name  this  college  bears,  it  is  often  supposed  to 
be,  or  to  have  been,  a  beneficiary  of  the  State.  This  is  cer- 
tainly a  great  mistake.  During  the  first  five  years  after  the 
organization  of  the  institution,  all  efforts  to  procure  for  it  a 
charter  even,  were  unavailing.  During  those  years  many 
aspirants  to  office  warned  the  people  of  the  evil  consequences 
to  be  apprehended  from  such  an  institution,  and  assured  them 
of  the  necessity  of  protecting  the  public  safety  against  so 
dangerous  an  enemy,  by  committing  it  to  their  care.  At  one 
time  it  was  confidently  alleged,  that  it  was  a  conspiracy  to 
unite  church  and  State.  At  another  that  it  was  a  combina- 
tion of  land  speculators,  to  buy  up  the  wild  lands  of  the 
State,  rent  them  to  a  dependent  tenantry,  and  thus  control 
our  elections.  To  such  an  extent  did  this  last  consideration 
prevail,  that  when  in  the  year  1835,  the  charter  was  granted, 
it  limited  the  quantity  of  land  which  the  corporation  could 
hold  to  a  single  section.  The  legislators  of  that  time  also 
considered  Theology  a  very  dangerous  science.  The  charter 
contained  a  clause  forbidding  the  Trustees  to  establish  a  theo- 
logical department.  Both  these  restrictions  were  long  since 
removed.  They  are  worthy  of  mention  only  as  way-marks  of 
the  progress  of  our  legislation  in  intelligence  and  liberality. 

The  first  class  was  graduated  in  1835,  consisting  of  two 
members,  one  of  them  Hon.  Kichard  Yates,  the  honored  re- 
presentative of  this  district  in  the  last  Congress,  now  a  Trustee 
of  the  institution. 

Time  would  fail  me  to  trace  the  history  of  the  institution 
with  any  detail,  through  the  subsequent  periods.  A  few 
points,  however,  must  claim  our  attention  for  a  little  time. 


28 

One  fact  in  our  history  has  for  many  years  been  apparent 
to  the  public,  and  often  been  interpreted  to  the  disadvantage 
of  the  institution.  The  number  of  names  on  our  annual 
catalogue  has  always  been  small  compared  with  many,  indeed 
most  other  colleges  around  us.  There  is,  however,  another 
fact  pervading  almost  our  whole  history,  which  is  often  lost 
sight  of,  and  which  is  indispensable  to  be  considered,  in  order 
rightly  to  estimate  our  numbers.  It  is  that  the  institution 
has  always  been  more  select  in  its  character,  that  is,  confined 
more  nearly  within  the  proper  sphere  of  collegiate  education, 
than  other  institutions  with  which  it  is  compared. 

At  one  time  we  had  no  Preparatory  or  Scientific  depart- 
ment at  all.  During  the  greater  part  of  our  history,  our  Pre- 
paratory department  has  been  confined  to  those  acquiring  the 
first  rudiments  of  the  Latin  and  Greek  languages,  and  of 
Arithmetic  and  Algebra,  preparatory  to  entering  the  Fresh- 
man class.  It  has  seldom  contained  more  than  twenty  or 
thirty  pupils.  No  pupils  under  fourteen  years  of  age  have 
been  admitted  to  any  department  for  the  last  twenty  years. 

There  are  two  reasons  why  the  institution  has  been  sub- 
jected to  these  limitations.  One  of  them  is  the  distance  of 
the  site  from  the  village.  This  cause  can  of  course  scarcely 
be  said  now  to  exist.  The  extension  of  the  village  has  re- 
moved it.  But  during  all  the  early  years  of  our  history,  it 
was  out  of  the  question  to  make  our  Preparatory  department, 
located  at  such  a  distance  from  the  population,  answer  the 
purpose  of  a  high  school  for  the  village. 

The  other  and  much  the  more  weighty  reason  is,  that  the 
Trustees  never  wished  to  monopolize  all  the  departments  of 
education.  They  have  wished  that  female  seminaries  should 
grow  up  independently  of  the  college,  and  perform  their  own 
appropriate  work.  With  female  education,  therefore,  the 
college  has  never  interfered.  They  have  also  wished  that  good 
preparatory  schools  should  be  multiplied  in  all  the  region 
around,  and  form  as  far  as  possible  a  part  of  our  public  school 
system.  They  have,  therefore,  always  desired  to  have  this 
work  as  far  as  they  could,  provided  for  by  the  people,  in  this 
and  other  localities.  The  result  could  not  but  be,  that  the 


29 

number  of  names  on  our  catalogue  should  be  small.  But  this 
instead  of  being  regarded  as  a  disparagement  to  the  college, 
should  have  been  considered  highly  creditable  to  it.  As  a 
consequence  of  the  college  having  been  steadily  conducted  on 
this  principle,  while  the  number  on  its  own  catalogue  this 
year  is  a  little  short  of  one  hundred,  there  are  different  insti- 
tutions in  this  place,  which  according  to  the  policy  of  some 
of  our  colleges  would  be  all  embraced  in  the  college,  whose 
combined  numbers  will  fall  but  little  short  of  those  of  Oberlin 
itself.  Good  preparatory  schools  are  also  springing  up  in  the 
region  around  us.  The  time  has  gone  by,  when  even  a  majority 
of  our  candidates  for  the  Freshman  class  are  fitted  in  our  own 
Preparatory  department,  and  it  may  soon  be  found  safe  to 
resign  the  studies  of  the  Preparatory  course  entirely  to  other 
hands.  The  result  would  certainly  have  been  a  very  different 
one,  had  the  college  sought  from  the  beginning  to  absorb  all 
the  departments  of  education,  instead  of  confining  itself  to  its 
own  sphere.  In  that  case,  for  example,  the  noble  public  school 
near  us  would  have  been  at  this  time  a  thing  yet  in  the 
future. 

It  is  a  great  mistake  to  attempt  to  estimate  the  influence 
of  such  an  institution  as  this,  merely,  or  even  chiefly,  by  the 
number  of  its  graduates,  or  by  counting  the  names  on  its 
catalogue.  To  do  it  justice,  it  should  be  considered  in  its  re- 
lations to  the  community  at  large,  and  to  an  extended  system 
of  education,  of  which  it  is  only  a  single  department.  The 
trustees  of  this  college  have  never  directed  their  attention  ex- 
clusively to  College  Hill  or  to  Jacksonville.  They  have  from 
the  first  sought  to  cooperate  with  their  fellow-citizens,  in 
organizing  and  constructing  a  system  of  education  for  a  great 
State.  They  have  not  conceived  of  Illinois  College  as  absorb- 
ing and  comprehending  all  the  departments  of  education, 
male  and  female  ;  but  as  standing  at  the  head  of  a  gradation 
of  seminaries,  covering  a  wide  extent  of  territory,  beginning 
with  the  common  school  within  reach  of  every  cabin  door,  and 
ending  in  the  university.  The  success  of  this  institution  can 
only  be  wisely  judged  of  by  considering  it  in  its  relations  to 
such  a  system. 


30  , 

It  cannot,  however,  be  denied,  that  the  steady  adhesion  of 
the  Trustees  to  this  policy  has  sometimes  brought  on  the  in- 
stitution a  very  severe  pressure.  Many  true  friends  have 
failed  to  discern  the  cause  of  the  smallness  of  our  numbers. 
Nor,  amid  the  unprecedented  religious  and  political  conflicts* 
through  which  we  have  been  passing,  can  it  be  supposed  that 
those  who  have  been  intrusted  with  the  offices  of  instruction 
and  government,  can  have  failed  to  excite  more  or  less  of 
hostile  and  embittered  feeling.  This  very  smallness  of  our 
numbers  has  always  furnished  such  persons  a  convenient  point 
of  attack.  Again  and  again,  perhaps  not  even  yet  for  the 
last  time,  has  the  effort  been  made  to  make  on  the  public 
mind  the  impression,  that  the  affairs  of  the  college  were  des- 
perate, and  that  the  small  number  of  names  on  its  catalogue 
indicated  its  speedy  extinction.  And  in  not  a  few  instances 
this  impression  has  been  by  these  means  widely  disseminated, 
and  greatly  increased  the  difficulties  under  which  the  guar- 
dians of  the  institution  labored.  Enemies  have  exulted,  and 
friends  a  little  removed  from  us  have  despaired.  But  let  us 
thank  God  that  thus  far  these  predictions  have  proved  false. 
The  institution  has  steadily  held  on  its  way,  doing  its  ap- 
propriate work,  and  gaining  vigor  by  the  struggles  of  its  in- 
fancy to  bear  the  burdens  of  its  manhood. 

The  institution  has  passed  through  one  great  financial 
crisis,  which  brought  it  very  near  the  point  of  extinction,  but 
from  which  it  has  been  steadily  recovering  since  1849.  I 
have  already  remarked  that  it  was  brought  into  some  embar- 
rassment by  erecting  a  large  building,  and  by  the  failure  of 
its  manual  labor  operations,  in  the  early  years  of  its  existence. 
Under  these  embarrassments  it  struggled  on  till  the  year 
1835,  when  a  subscription  was  commenced  for  endowing  the 
institution.  In  the  years  of  1835  and  1836  that  subscription 
was  carried  up  to  $80,000  in  this  State,  and  some  $30,000 
from  individuals  at  the  East.  The  interest  of  these  subscrip- 
tions was  for  the  most  part  payable  annually  at  six  per  cent., 
and  the  principal  at  some  future  day  agreed  on.  The  income 
of  the  college  was  now  ample,  and  arrangements  were  made  to 
sustain  a  system  of  instruction  corresponding  with  its  increased 


31 

income.  Scarcely  had  these  arrangements  been  completed, 
while  nothing  had  yet  been  done  in  paying  the  old  debt, 
when  in  common  with  all  the  rest  of  the  nation,  we  felt  the 
shock  of  the  earthquake  which  followed.  Oar  subscribers 
'mostly  failed,  and  were  entirely  unable  to  pay.  Our  debt 
was  unpaid.  Our  income  was  less  than  before,  and  we  had  a 
much  more  expensive  system  to  sustain.  A  great  accumula- 
tion of  debt  was  the  consequence.  The  college  had  a  large 
amount  of  lands,  but  it  impoverished  our  treasury  to  pay  the 
taxes.  In  this  condition  of  affairs  we  struggled  on  from  1838 
to  1848.  In  that  year  an  arrangement  was  made,  by  which 
the  college  was  released  from  its  debts,  by  parting  with  all  its 
property,  except  its  site  with  the  land  now  held  in  its  vicin- 
ity, its  buildings,  library,  and  instruments  of  instruction. 
To  this  point  was  the  institution  brought  in  the  year  1848, 
and  here  it  must  have  terminated  its  existence,  but  for  the 
annual  appropriation  which  it  was  then,  and  is  still  receiving 
from  the  Society  for  promoting  Collegiate  and  Theological 
Education  at  the  West,  located  in  the  city  of  New  York.  The 
sum  received  from  that  source  with  its  income  from  tuition 
kept  it  from  sinking. 

One  year  afterwards  an  effort  was  commenced  to  secure  a 
permanent  endowment.  A  brighter  day  now  dawned.  The 
call  was  responded  to  with  unexpected  liberality.  In  the  next 
year  and  a  half  considerably  over  $30,000  had  been  subscribed 
in  this  State,  and  the  city  of  St.  Louis.  The  subscriptions 
bore  interest  at  six  per  cent,  from  date,  and  one  tenth  of  the 
principal  was  payable  annually.  The  amount  has  since  been 
increased  to  about  $35,000 ;  and  arrangements  exist  by  which 
it  is  hoped  it  will  soon  be  raised  to  $50,000.  These  pledges 
are  for  the  most  part  redeemed  with  great  punctuality  and 
cheerfulness. 

The  destruction  of  our  main  edifice  by  fire,  on  the  night 
of  the  30th  December,  1852,  seemed  at  the  time  a  severe 
blow  to  the  college.  But  as  we  now  see  the  event,  there  is  no 
reason  to  suppose  that  it  has  in  any  degree  retarded  its 
growth,  or  diminished  its  prosperity.  There  is  in  my  mind 
no  doubt  that  the  practice  of  lodging  students  in  college  edi- 


flees,  remote  from  domestic  influences,  is  evil  in  its  results 
both  to  the  morals  and  manners  of  students.  To  this  purpose 
the  edifice  which  was  destroyed  was  almost  wholly  appropriated. 
Students  immediately  sought  and  obtained  without  difficulty 
private  accommodations.  Although  the  recent  scarcity  and  high 
prices  of  provisions  has  rendered  board  expensive  to  students 
as  well  as  others,  it  has  for  the  most  part  been  true  that 
board,  lodgings,  and  rooms  ready  furnished,  have  not  cost  the 
students  more  than  they  used  to  pay  when  they  occupied 
rooms  in  the  building.  The  advantage  on  the  score  of  social 
and  moral  habits  has  been  greatly  in  favor  of  the  present  sys- 
tem. Under  our  present  arrangements  the  occurrence  of  any 
case  requiring  serious  college  discipline  or  censure  is  very  rare. 
The  faculty  are  not  liable  to  be  suspected  of  acting  as  spies 
upon  the  private  life  of  the  students,  and  are,  therefore,  in  a 
position  more  favorable  to  exerting  a  strong  and  salutary  in- 
fluence over  them. 

Meantime  the  Trustees  have  begun,  and  are  proceeding 
as  rapidly  as  they  can,  in  the  erection  of  a  building  designed 
for  public  purposes  only,  which  will  be,  when  completed,  in 
some  degree  worthy  of  the  noble  site  on  which  it  is  to  be 
erected,  and  of  the  dignified  purposes  to  which  it  is  con- 
secrated. A  building  fund  constituted  out  of  the  insurance 
on  the  building  destroyed,  and  donations  to  that  specific 
object,  amounts  to  about  $12,000.  This  sum  is  not  by  any 
means  sufficient  to  complete  the  edifice.  But  it  is  confi- 
dently believed  that  a  further  appeal  to  the  public  liberality 
for  such  an  object,  cannot  be  in  vain.  . ; 

It  has  ever  been  the  intention  of  the  founders  and  guar- 
dians of  the  college,  that  its  character  should  be  strongly 
religious,  and  decidedly 'evangelical,  but  that  it  should  rather 
represent  the  great  essentials  of  the  Gospel  than  the  denomi- 
national peculiarities  of  any  sect.  It  has  been  intended,  that, 
with  sufficient  unity  of  religious  opinion  in  its  Boards  of  Trust 
and  Instruction  to  render  cooperation  easy,  it  should  be  an  in- 
stitution in  which  all  the  friends  of  evangelical  truth  and 
Protestant  freedom  can  repose  confidence.  It  may  be  true 
that  such  an  institution  cannot  rely  on  the  esprit  du  corps  of 


83 

any  sect  for  its  support  and  endowment.  It  is  true  that  this 
college  has  never  appealed  to  any  such  motive.  But  is  it  not 
also  true,  that  the  influence  of  such  an  institution  is,  on  the 
whole,  more  sound,  more  healthful,  and  likely  to  be  more  per- 
manent, than  one  which  is  made  the  great  central  rallying 
point  of  some  one  religious  sect  ?  It  should  also  be  borne  in 
mind,  that  up  to  this  time  this  college  has  obtained  larger  do- 
nations from  the  free-will  offerings  of  the  people  of  this  State, 
than  any  strictly  denominational  institution.  At  all  events, 
amid  all  the  ravages  of  the  sectarian  principle  among  us,  is 
not  such  an  experiment  worth  trying  ? 

The  blessing  of  God  on  the  religious  interests  of  this  col- 
lege should  be  devoutly  and  gratefully  acknowledged.  With- 
out this  may  the  instructors  of  a  college  well  feel,  that  they 
have  labored  in  vain  and  spent  their  .strength  for  naught. 
Nothing  is  more  disheartening  to  a  pious  teacher,  than  to, 
pass  through  long  seasons  in  which  ho  tokens  of  the  presence 
of  God's  Spirit  are  witnessed.  I  cannot  remember  with,  cer-> 
tainty  the  number  of  seasons  of  special  religious  interest 
which  have  occurred  in  the  institution.  It  is  certainly  not 
less  than  six  or  seven.  In  these  precious  seasons  and  through 
the  gracious  influences  of  God's  Spirit  on  individuals,  when  no 
general  religious  interest  existed,  many  of  the  youth  of  this 
State  have  been  born  into  the  kingdom  of  Christ,  and  a  goodly 
number  of  them,  not  a  few  indeed  of  whom  have  never  gra- 
duated, are,  or  have  been,  preaching  the  Gospel.  Of  these, 
some  are  filling  important  stations  in  the  churches  of  our  own 
land  East  and  West,  four  are  known  to  be  Missionaries  to 
the  heathen,  and  some  are  fallen  asleep. 

Our  whole  number  of  graduates  is  one  hundred  and  thirty, 
of  whom  one  hundred  and  eighteen  still  survive.  We  have 
had  under  our  instruction  more  than  one  thousand  pupils, 
and  through  a  large  number  of  these  pupils  still  surviving,  is 
the  college  now  exerting  no  small  share  of  influence  on  the 
social,  moral  and  religious  destinies  of  this  State  and  of  the 
world.  These  are  the  results  of  this  enterprise  in  its  minority, 
its  infancy.  Its  manhood  is  yet  future.  What  may  we  not 
reasonably  hope  ? 


There  is  yet  one  other  class  of  results  of  which  it  would 
be  unjust  not  to  speak.  The  first  of  the  group  of  public 
institutions  located  at  Jacksonville  was  Illinois  College.  The 
second,  resulting  directly  from  the  first,  and  for  the  most  part 
fostered  and  sustained  at  the  outset  by  the  same  individuals, 
was  the  Jacksonville  Female  Academy.  The  organization  of 
its  first  Board  of  Trustees  took  place  only  a  few  months  after 
that  of  Illinois  College.  Under  that  organization  it  was  con- 
ducted iintil  the  year  1853,  when  it  was  transferred  to  the 
present  Trustees. 

Next  came  the  founding  of  the  Institution  for  the  Educa- 
tion of  the  Deaf  and  Dumb,  planned  and  carried  through  the 
State  Legislature  by  men  who  were  influenced  only  by  motives 
of  philanthropy.  The  originators  of  the  Institution  were  not 
residents  of  Jacksonville,  and  in  selecting  this  as  the  location 
for  it,  its  friends  were,  probably,  not  a  little  influenced  by 
the  fact,  that  this  had  already  become  celebrated  as  the  home 
of  educational  institutions,  and  as  having  a  population  well 
fitted  to  cherish  an  institution  for  the  education  of  the  un- 
fortunate. 

A  prestige  was  now  established  in  favor  of  Jacksonville, 
which  in  process  of  timej  led  to  the  erection  among  us  of  a 
Hospital  for  the  Insane,  an  Institution  for  the  Education  of  the 
Blind,  the  Methodist  Conference  Female  College,  and  Be- 
rean  College ;  the  two  former  by  the  State,  and  the  two  latter 
by  the  religious  denominations  with  which  they  are  respect- 
ively connected. 

Nor  must  I  forget  to  mention  a  public  school,  founded  on  a 
noble  plan,  and  having  already  earned  an  enviable  reputation, 
and  numbering  more  than  five  hundred  pupils.  I  know  not 
that  any  place  on  this  continent  can,  in  proportion  to  its  po- 
pulation, surpass  Jacksonville  in  the  number  and  variety  of  its 
institutions  for  education  and  philanthropy.  It  is  even  doubt- 
ful if  there  is  another  which  can  equal  it.  These  institutions 
are  all  in  their  infancy.  But  properly  managed,  they  have 
the  means  of  indefinite  growth  and  expansion,  to  meet  the 
ever-increasing  wants  of  a  State,  unequalled  in  natural  re- 


85 

sources,  and  in  the  prospective  wealth  and  density  of  its  popu- 
lation. 

I  think  no  reasonable  man  will  deny,  that  the  gathering  of 
this  noble  group  here,  is  to  be  traced  to  the  early  establish- 
ment of  Illinois  College,  on  the  eminence  which  crowns  the 
western  limit  of  our  beautiful  village.  If  this  is  so,  then  does 
this  village  and  the  region  around  it  owe  a  debt  to  Illinois 
College.  Though  always  poor,  it  has  been  at  least  in  one 
respect  like  the  great  Apostle  of  the  Gentiles — "  Poor,  yet 
making  many  rich."  As  the  parent  institution,  it  has  claims 
upon  every  citizen  who  enjoys  the  social,  the  religious,  the 
educational  advantages  of  this  town.  It  asks  to  be  sustained 
by  a  liberal  public,  as  well  in  consideration  of  what  it  has 
done  in  the  past,  as  of  what  it  promises  in  the  future. 

I  have  now  completed  the  sketch  which  I  contemplated 
of  the  history  of  this  institution.  The  nature  of  the  case 
must  be  my  apology  for  its  length,  and  I  will  hasten  to  re- 
lease you  as  soon  as  possible.  Brethren  and  friends,  I  cannot 
express  to  you  the  pleasure  I  feel  in  meeting  you  here  to-day. 
It  is  cheering  to  see  around  me  so  many  of  the  fellow-laborers 
with  whom  I  stood  shoulder  to  shoulder  in  this  enterprise  in 
the  days  of  my  youth.  A  quarter  of  a  century  is  gone,  and 
we  too  see  the  ravages  of  time  around  us.  All  are  not  here. 
We  cherish  here  to-day  in  affectionate  remembrance  the 
names  of  the  departed.  Of  the  Trustees  of  the  institution, 
and  several  of  them  among  its  earliest  friends  and  benefactors, 
William  C.  Posey,  John  P.  Wilkinson,  William  Kirby, 
John  Tillson,  Joseph  Duncan,  Thomas  Mather,  David  B. 
Ayres,  Gideon  Blackburn,  are  gone  to  their  reward.  Of  those 
originally  associated  at  New  Haven,  with  a  view  to  the  Home 
Missionary  work  in  this  State,  two  only,  so  far  as  known  to  me, 
are  departed, — William  Kirby,  already  mentioned,  and  Kom- 
ulus  Barnes.  Of  the  rest  all  survive,  and  most  are  here  to- 
day. Others  too  are  gone.  We  name  them  not.  Could 
they  speak  to  us  now,  they  would  forbid  us  to  call  them  forth 
from  those  scenes  of  retired  and  unseen  self-denial  for  the 
Master,  in  which  they  lived.  Their  beauty  and  their  loveli- 
ness cheered  us  and  all  around  us,  in  those  days  of  our  youth- 


36 

ful  toil,  and  the  very  substance  of  our  souls  must  be  dissolved  •  ' 
ere  their  names  and  their  image  can  perish  from  our  me- 
mory. 

A  quarter  of  a  century  is  gone  ;  but  what  occasion  hath 
it  left  for  cheerful  gratitude  to  the  Author  of  all  good.    Many 
indeed  are  gone,  but  they  are  gone,  we  trust,  to  our  Father's 
house,  and  are  for  ever  happy  in  his  love.    Many  too  remain. 
And  they  not  only  remain  in  life,  but  in  almost  unimpaired 
health  and  vigor,  to  labor  for  the  Master.      Brethren,  our 
heads  are  whitened,  our  brows  are  wrinkled ;  time  has  set  his 
mark  on  us.     But  I  rejoice,  I  thank  God,  that  I  behold  in 
you  so  much  remaining  of  the  elasticity,  the  vigor,  the  fire  of 
youth.      Ye  are  still  laborious,  trustful,  hopeful  men,  looking 
forward  to  a  future  of  labor  for  Christ.     Brethren,  this  is  oc- 
casion for  devout  gratitude.     Our  work  is  not  done.     The 
foundations  are  laid ;  they  have  been  tested  by  time,  by  pres- 
sure, by  storm.     They  are  strong  and  sound  :  they  will  sus- 
tain an  edifice  every  way  adequate  to  the  exigencies  of  the 
cause  we  would  promote.     By  the  help  of  God  such  an  insti- 
tution must  be  reared  up,  sound  and  unfaltering  in  its  reli- 
gious faith,  liberal  in  all  its  provisions  for  mental  culture, 
comprehending  in  its  cooperation  all  who  can  appreciate  and 
love  it  for  its  work's  sake.     Who  can  calculate  the  necessity 
which  is  now  apparent  for  the  higher  culture,  to  meet  the 
wants  of  this  great  State  ?     Where  we  have  tens  we  should 
have  hundreds  of  minds  subjected  to  the  very  highest  disci- 
pline which  the  present  art  of  education  can  supply.     They 
are  needed  for  teachers.  We  are  just  inaugurating  a  system  of 
free  schools,  which  ought  to  be  one  of  the  best  in  our  country. 
It  will  require  thousands  of  enlightened  and  learned  minds, 
to  make  it  so.     We  need  a  vast  multiplication  of  trained  and 
disciplined  intellects  in  the   other   secular  professions,  and, 
above  all,  in  the  Christian  ministry. 

God  has  surrounded  us  too  with  wealth  already  accumu- 
lated, and  increasing  with  unprecedented  rapidity.  Our  pro- 
blem is  a  plain  one — we  must  appeal  to  men's  love  ef  learning 
— love  of  their  children — love  of  their  country  and  of  the  church 
of  God,  to  persuade  them  to  appropriate  enough  of  their 


37 

wealth  to  this  nohle  object,  to  rear  on  these  foundations  the 
noble  structure  of  a  literary  institution,  adequate  to  all  these 
great  exigencies  of  the  State,  and  of  the  church  of  God. 
Brethren,  this  is  a  great  work ;  we  still  need  your  prayers,  your 
cooperation,  your  wisdom  in  council.  It  is  yet  a  question 
whether  on  these  foundations  such  an  institution  shall  stand 
through  corning  ages,  as  you  conceived  of  when  you  espoused 
this  cause  with  the  fervor  of  youthful  zeal.  Shall  those  con- 
ceptions be  realized  ?  It  were  truly  a  shame  not  to  answer, 
yes  !  We  began  in  the  midst  of  poverty — we  are  now  called 
to  carry  forward  the  work  in  the  midst  of  wealth.  We  began 
almost  single-handed — we  have  now  more  than  a  hundred 
living  alumni  to  sustain  us  in  our  work.  We  began  in  youth- 
ful inexperience — we  have  now  the  benefit  of  a  quarter  of  a 
century  of  experience.  Let  us  then  be  strong  and  quit  us  like 
men  !  Stand  boldly,  firmly,  confidently  on  our  first  principles, 
and  never  for  one  moment  doubt  their  sufficiency  to  sustain  us. 
They  will  stand  as  the  tried  and  lasting  basis  of  our  noblest 
literary  institutions,  when  the  ephemera  of  the  present  hour 
shall  have  been  for  ages  forgotten. 

There  may,  my  brethren,  be  another  gathering  like  this  when 
our  first  half-century  shall  have  elapsed.  Some  of  us — some 
of  those  who  united  in  this  enterprise  a  quarter  of  a  century 
ago  may  be  here — but  how  few — and  how  solitary  will  those 
few  be — how  bowed  with  age — how  near  the  grave  !  If  any 
of  us  should  on  that  day  be  among  the  living,  let  us  not  fail 
to  be  here.  It  will  be  sorrowful  to  be  here  a  solitary  remnant 
of  a  perished  generation — but  if  in  the  mean  time  we  are 
faithful  to  our  work,  we  may  then  behold  results  which  will 
rekindle  the  enthusiasm  of  youth  in  the  bosom  of  age. 
Who  of  us  will  be  here  on  that  day  ?  The  curtain  falls — 
darkness  covers  the  landscape.  Brethren,  there  is  another 
meeting  where  we  shall  all  be  present  !  0,  may  we  all  hear 
the  sentence,  "  Well  done,  good  and  faithful  servant  !•" 


THE  SOCIAL  RE-UNION 

OF  THE  FOUNDERS,  PATRONS,  ALUMNI,  AND  FRIENDS  OF 
ILLINOIS  COLLEGE. 

THIS  occasion  in  celebration  of  the  twenty-fifth  anniversary  of  Illinois 
College,  was  one  of  surpassing  interest.  At  an  early  hour  on  Wednesday 
evening,  the  guests  assembled  in  the  parlors  of  the  Mansion  House,  in 
Jacksonville,  and  promptly,  at  half-past  eight  o'clock,  supper  was  an- 
nounced. The  company  then  proceeded  to  the  dining  hall,  where  a  most 
bountiful  supply  of  refreshments  had  been  prepared.  A  blessing  having 
been  pronounced  by  Rev.  Asa  Turner  of  Iowa,  the  company  proceeded 
to  "  discuss  "  the  viands  before  them.  The  committee  award  to  Mr. 
Fox,  proprietor  of  the  Mansion  House,  in  whose  charge  were  all  the 
arrangements,  the  highest  credit  for  the  bountifulness,  liberality,  and 
good  taste  with  which  he  discharged  his  duty,  and  the  efficiency  with 
which  both  host  aud  hostess  contributed  to  the  enjoyment  of  the 
evening. 

After  supper  was  concluded,  sentiments  were  announced  as  follows  : 

1.  THE  HIGHER  INSTITUTIONS  OF  LEARNING  :  It  is  the  appropriate  work  of 
American  Christian  scholars  and  men  of  enterprise,  especially  young  men,  to 
found  them  at  the  earliest  possible  period  of  every  new  country. 

This  was  responded  to  by  Rev.  J.  M.  Ellis,  now  of  Nashua,  N.  H., 
but  one  of  the  first  ministers  who  ever  preached  in  Jacksonville,  and  an 
efficient  laborer  in  founding  Illinois  College.  We  regret  that  we  have 
not  been  able  to  obtain  any  report  of  Mr.  Ellis's  interesting  remarks. 

2.  THE  FIRST  FACULTY  :    Some  have  retired,  but  their  memory  and  their 
works  abide  to  bless  the  Institution  for  which  they  toiled  and  endured. 

Prof.  T.  M.  Post,  of  St.  Louis,  but  formerly  of  Illinois  College,  re- 
sponded in  one  of  his  happiest  efforts  as  follows: 

Mr.  PRESIDENT  : — Grave  difficulties  embarrass  me  in  responding 
to  this  sentiment.  I  am  called  upon  to  speak  of  the  living  and  the 


39 

present.  The  first  Faculty  of  Illinois  College,  I  am  happy  to  say,  all 
still  live ;  and,  to  add  to  the  joy  of  this  festivity,  but  at  the  same  time 
to  enhance  the  difficulty  and  delicacy  of  my  task,  they  are  most  of 
them  here  present.  Moreover,  I  am  required  to  crowd  the  contents 
of  the  theme  thus  offered  me  into  eight  or  ten  minutes.  Four  such 
names  as  those  I  am  to  speak  to  (leaving  out  my  own),  crushed  into 
such  a  narrow  compass — it  passes  my  power  of  condensation.  Sure, 
they  never  suffered  such  violent  reduction  before,  nor  shall  they  now 
suffer  it  at  the  hand  of  a  friend.  Such  compression  I  leave,  if  need  be, 
to  the  harsh  rigor  of  distant  and  general  history.  It  belongs  not  to 
personal  friendship,  and  the  living  presence.  Why,  sir,  I  should  as 
soon  think  to  measure  the  breadth  of  a  moral  principle  by  a  geometric 
formula,  or  take  altitude  of  the  college  they  founded  while  standing  be- 
side it  with  a  scale  of  seconds,  as  attempt  to  take  the  gauge  and  di- 
mensions of  such  men  in  ten  minutes.  I  shall  essay  no  such  absurdity, 
sir.  I  can  merely  allude  to  the  table  of  contents  which  the  theme  pre- 
sented opens,  and  tell  you  what  I  would  like  to  speak  of. 

The  first  Faculty  of  Illinois  College !  The  words,  Mr.  President, 
start  up  a  morning  scene ;  a  morning  scene  in  the  history  of  this  land, 
and  in  the  history  of  my  life,  when  you  and  I  were  young,  and  in  a 
young  world ;  the  beautiful  mystery  of  hope  resting  on  our,  personal 
history,  as  on  that  of  the  magnificent  region  we  adopted  as  our  home. 
Those  glorious  Faculty  re-unions,  of  free  speech  and  open  brow,  of 
brotherly  trust  and  truth,  and  thought  and  argument  that  wandered 
enthusiastic,  bold,  untrammelled  and  resolute  through  all  fields,  open- 
ing in  the  new  worlds,  spiritual,  natural,  and  social  around  us — those 
re-unions,  how  would  I  like  to  recall  them  !  I  would  love  to  linger,  sir, 
on  the  morning  scene ;  but  it  has  faded  like  our  youth.  I  would  love 
to  speak  of  its  dramatis  personce ;  of  him  of  the  massive  brain  and 
massive  intellect — of  mind  comprehensive,  vast,  devout;  blending  a 
Platonic  love  of  the  mystical  and  ideal  with  a  faith  of  Apocalyptic  mag- 
nificence of  vision — one  whose  phalanx  tread  in  realms  theologic,  lite- 
rary, and  prophetical,  once  echoed  for  and  wide  over  these  broad  plains ; 
but  who  now  in  the  roar  of  the  Atlantic  wave,  amid  many  labors  for 
truth  and  right,  has  embarked  his  powers  in  what  truly  is  "  the  con- 
flict of  ages." 

I  would  speak  of  another,  whose  enthusiasm  and  energy  have  been 
the  nerve  and  the  heart-beat  of  this  enterprise  for  a  quarter  of  a  cen- 
tury ;  whose  clear  and  rapid  logic,  undazzled  by  illusion  and  defiant  of 
sophisms,  trammelled  by  no  gew  gaw  nor  flummery,  solved,  as  with 
ready  intuition,  difficulties  scientific,  dialectic,  or  practical,  keen  and 
penetrant,  piercing  directly  to  the  core  of  questions,  and  grasping  the 


40 

great  common  sense  of  things.  Oft  did  that  logical  and  practical  in- 
stinct much  avail  our  enterprise  in  difficult  times,  as  did  the  enthusiasm 
of  that  mind  tend  ever  to  keep  alive  hope  and  courage.  And  now, 
though  those  features  have  grown  sharper  and  more  rigid  under  the 
whitening  locks,  yet  their  very  sharpness,  set  off  by  that  new  nether 
integument  of  the  face,  seems  only  to  add  keenness  and  intensity  to  the 
aspect  of  energy  and  eagerness  with  which  he  still  rallies  all  the  forces 
of  the  enterprise,  rebukes  the  faltering,  cheers  yn  the  timid,  rouses  the 
inert  and  desponding,  and  challenges  difficulties  and  antagonisms,  ever 
bearing  aloft  the  flag  of  the  noble  vessel,  and  crying  out  in  the  thick 
of  the  fight,  "  Ho,  comrades,  stand  fast !  Never  give  up  the  ship !  " 
But  I  need  not  speak  of  one  whose  praises,  as  whose  knowledge,  have 
been  long  among  you. 

Of  another,  my  theme  would  call  me  to  speak,  of  one  of  Anakim ; 
Anakim  both  in  body  and  mind.  He  brought  a  large  part  of  New 
England  with  him — much  of  the  Old  Rock ;  and  southern  suns  have 
not  yet  melted  it  out  of  him.  The  Ajax  Telamon  was  he  of  our  enter- 
prise; Demosthenic  in  function,  and  Demosthenic  especially  in  the 
"  to  deinon  "  of  eloquence,  he  was  long  the  terror  of  all  flunkeys  in  these 
parts.  With  stalwart  arm,  and  massive  shield,  and  ponderous  spear, 
what  ruinous  routs  he  wrought  mid  cants  and  shams  and  isms,  from 
Joe  Smith  to  the  dreaming  Swede.  And  now  that  he  has  betaken 
himself  to  hedging  yon  broad  acres,  as  also  hierarchic  encroachments 
and  social  corruptions  with  thorns,  may  his  shadow  never  be  less. 

Nor  would  I  less  delight  to  name  that  other  one  of  our  band,  with 
the  heart  of  the  child,  the  brow  of  a  philosopher,  and  imagination  of  the 
poet — of  mind  profound,  delicate,  pure,  true-hearted  friend !  the  man 
without  guile  and  without  fear,  whose  kind  face  memory  pictures, 
cheering  with  its  sympathy  our  hours  of  pain  and  chambers  of  sickness. 
Of  him,  too,  would  I  delight  to  speak,  were  he  not  present  and  my 
eulogy  likely  to  offend. 

Of  another  circle,  too — the  sisterhood  clustering  around  this  band 
of  brothers,  no  unimportant  nor  ineffective  part  of  the  first  Faculty  in 
days  of  early  trial,  my  theme  reminds  me ;  some  of  them  far  distant 
now — some  gladdening  this  scene  with  their  presence ;  others,  their 
mortal  forms  dear  to  memory,  repose  in  yonder  beautiful  sleeping-place 
of  the  dead.  Fain  would  I  picture  the  beautiful  intercourse  of  our  do- 
mestic circles  in  those  days — one  family  almost  in  heart,  in  interest,  in 
joy,  and  in  suffering — an  Arcadian  dream,  destined  to  fade  away  be- 
fore the  advancing  stages  of  more  artificial  society.  As  a  common  gift, 
a  gladness  to  us  all,  I  well  remember  the  little  girl  whose  blonde  and 
laughing  tresses  and  winsome  face  and  pattering  feet  seemed  like  a  con- 


41 

secration  of  our  college  halls  new  risen  in  the  wilds.  But  the  face  of  the 
little  maiden  faded  like  a  star  into  heaven.  Nor  did  she  go  alone :  other 
little  forms  went  from  our  circle  after  her.  And  memory  oft  recalls  how 
with  sorrowing  steps  and  slow  we  followed  members  of  that  little  band 
of  sisterhood  to  our  sequestered  college  burying-ground  on  the  prairie, 
and  how  our  tears  glittered  in  the  soft,  silent,  lone  light  of  the.  setting 
sun,  toward  which  our  fallen  ones  went  to  their  rest,  far  from  the  homes 
of  childhood.  But  over  these  scenes  we  may  not  linger. 

Nor  should  this  hour  forget  that  noble  band  of  trustees  of  the  col- 
lege, to  whose  courage,  and  faith,  and  sacrifice,  and  to  whose  wisdom 
and  generous  kindness  it  has  been  in  no  small  measure  due  that  the 
first  Faculty  lived  and  labored  on  with  such  success  as  it  did,  and  that 
the  college  still  abides.  True-hearted,  great-hearted  men  were  they. 
I  shall  ever  cherish  to  them,  as  should  also  this  region  and  community, 
sentiments  of  honor  and  gratitude.  Their  places  of  rest  will  ever  be  to 
me  as  brothers'  graves. 

Gladly,  too,  would  I  commemorate  the  first  students  whom  this 
first  Faculty  taught.  But  they  need  not  my  commemoration.  Their 
present  living  selves,  I  am  proud  to  regard  this  day  as  their  most  hon- 
orable record.  Some  that  began  with  translating  "  tonuere poll" — "he 
thundered  with  a  pole?  have  since  made  the  true  heavens  thunder. 
Others  who  watched  for  wild  swine  around  my  garden  by  night,  have 
since  pursued  other  game  over  the  hunting  grounds  of  the  ancient  Cy- 
rus, or  have  gone  to  their  rest  on  the  shores  of  Western  Africa.  Some 
that  wept  with  mortification  at  their  first  recitation,  have  since  made 
crowded  audiences  weep.  Others  whose  youthful  genius  effloresced  in 
Fourth  of  July  platitudes,  have  since  wooed  the  muses  of  oratory  and 
poesy  not  in  vain.  One  such  I  was  glad  to  recognize,  as,  on  a  visit  to 
Washington  last  year,  I  looked  down  from  the  gallery  of  the  Represen- 
tatives' Hall  on  one  man  from  Illinois  not  bereft  of  manhood  by  the 
process  of  getting  there,  and  that  one  man  from  Illinois  College. 

Nor  would  I  forget  the  first  friends  of  the  college  in  this  place,  with 
whose  cheering  and  generous  interest  and  sympathy,  the  memories  of 
the  first  Faculty,  shaded,  whether  with  joy  or  sorrow,  are  so  much  in- 
tertwined. Many  of  those  faces  I  am  glad  to  meet  here  to-night. 
Some  are  not :  God  hath  changed  and  taken  them  away. 

In  looking  back  on  those  old  times,  you  would  pardon  me  some- 
thing of  the  fogyism  of  old  Nestor,  were  I  to  take  up  his  lament  that 
the  earth  no  longer  bred  such  men  and  women  as  we  remember.  To 
the  new  comers — the  young  America  we  see  every  where  taking  our 
places — we  will  say,  "  We  like  you — like  you  very  much ;  but  one  does 
not  straightway  exchange  the  old  wine  for  the  new."  You  would,  per- 


42 

haps,  with  your  smooth  cheek  and  glossy  locks,  and  eye  undimmed, 
and  brow  unbent,  be  astonished  should  we  say,  you  do  not  look  to  us 
quite  as  handsome  as  the  elder  generation.  But  those  gray  locks  have 
to  us  a  consecration.  That  faded  cheek  is  holy  with  memories  of  love 
and  sorrow.  On  that  ridged  and  wrinkled  brow  is  the  tracery  of  com- 
mon cares,  anxieties  and  griefs.  That  line  that  now  seems  deepened 
by  the  tears  of  years,  we  remember  when  the  first  drops  began  to  wear 
it  Pardon  us,  therefore,  that  we  love  those  faces  and  feel  their  beauty 
grows  holier  with  time. 

Thoughts  like  these  crowd  on  me  with  the  sentiment  I  speak  to. 
But  of  these  I  may  not  task  your  patience  further  to  tell.  But  amid 
many  things  suggested  by  this  hour,  my  brethren  of  the  first  Faculty 
will  remember,  as  in  that  morning  time  we  looked  forth,,  how  many 
lights,  meteor  or  starry,  glittered  through  the  "horizontal  misty  air" 
of  the  dawn.  We  could  then  hardly  tell  fire-flies  from  constellations. 
But  the  false,  the  spurious,  the  earthly  and  illusive  have  long  since 
fallen.  The  genuine  still  live.  Yea,  as  the  broad  vault  of  the  firma- 
ment has  turned,  we  know  they  are  of  the  heavens.  They  have  been 
lifted  by  them  and  shine  in  them.  Such  is  the  institution  we  commem- 
orate this  day.  A  quarter  of  a  century  has  passed.  It  has  not  fallen 
to  earth.  It  has  been  lifted  with  the  heavens,  rolling  toward  the  noon. 
Higher  and  clearer  on  it  shines.  May  it  so  shine  on  for  ever  ! 

3.  THE  NEW  HAVEN  BAND  :  Another  sacred  seven. 

The  Rev.  Mason  Grosvenor  responded  to  this  sentiment,  but  we 
regret  that  we  have  no  report  of  his  remarks.  He  was  the  real  origi- 
nator of  the  enterprise  and  the  organizer  of  the  band.  One  of  the  three 
conditions  upon  which  its  members  pledged  themselves  to  the  work 
was,  that  eight  individuals  be  found  willing  to  engage  in  it.  There  was 
no  design,  therefore,  in  fixing  the  number  at  seven.  The  enterprise 
looked  so  promising,  that  after  seven  had  enrolled  their  names,  they 
were  willing  to  stand  by  the  pledge  without  the  eighth. 

The  band  was  organized  on  the  principle  that  education  and  re- 
ligion must  go  hand  in  hand  to  the  world's  conversion.  It  had  been 
noticed  too  that  individual  missionaries  often  went  to  the  West,  and  by 
being  compelled  to  labor  single-handed,  found  themselves  at  last  borne 
down  by  adverse  influences,  and  instead  of  maintaining  an  elevated 
standard  as  ministers,  and  lifting  the  community,  they  were  cut  off  from 
the  means  of  improvement,  and  gradually  sunk  down  as  intellectual 
men.  The  philosophy  of  this  movement  was  to  secure  such  a  combina- 
tion, and  set  in  motion  such  agencies  as  would  enable  them  to  create  a 


43 

literary  atmosphere  whose  vital  power  all  should  feel.     Hence  a  college 
was  to  be  the  centre  of  the  system. 

How  ardently  this  enterprise  was  cherished  by  the  devoted  band  is 
manifest  from  the.  following  extract  from  Pres.  Sturtevant's  Sermon, 
"  commemorative  of  the  Life  and  Labors  of  the  Rev.  William  Kirby," 
the  only  one  of  the  band  as  yet  removed  by  death  : — 

"  There  is  one  point  in  Mr.  Kirby's  connection  with  Illinois  College 
as  a  Trustee,  which  deserves.-special  notice  and  commendation.     I  refer 
to  his  punctuality  in  attending  the  regular  annual  meetings  of  the  Board. 
Since  1833,  when  he  ceased  to  be  an  instructor  in  the  college,  to  the 
time  of  his  death  [Dec.  20, 1851],  I  find  but  two  regular  meetings  of 
the  Board  at  which  his  name  is  not  entered  as  present.     One  of  these 
was  the  meeting  of  1833,  which  was  held  out  of  time,  on  account  of 
prevailing  pestilence.     At  the  time  when  the  other  absence  occurred,  he 
reached  the  Illinois  River  on  his  way,  and  found  it  impassable.     This 
punctuality  has  been  maintained,  when,  for  a  portion  of  the  time,  his 
residence  was  more  than  two  hundred  miles,  and  for  the  greater  part  of 
the  time  little  short  of  one  hundred  miles  from  Jacksonville,  and  when 
the  journey  was  to  be  accomplished  in  his  own  conveyance  and  entirely 
at  his  own  charges,  both  for  his  time  and  expenses,  and  often  over 
muddy  roads  and  across  swollen  streams.    We  hear  of  the  princely  libe- 
rality of  the  rich  to  the  cause  of  learning ;  and  may  it  be  still  more 
honored,  that  it  may  be  more  practised.     But  here  in  the  silent,  unos- 
tentatious history  of  a  minister  of  the  Gospel,  whose  nominal  salary  was 
but  four  hundred  a  year,  and  that  subject  to  large  discounts  which  Home 
Missionaries  understand  very  well,  is  a  noble  liberality  to  the  cause  of 
learning  which  deserves  to  be  remembered  when  the  princely  donations 
of  the  wealthy  are  forgotten.     And  yet,  in  addition  to  all  this,  he  was 
a  subscriber  of  $100  to  the  endowment  fund  of  Illinois  College. 
4.  THE  COLLEGE  SOCIETY  :  A  noble  agency  for  a  noble  end. 

Rev.  Theron  Baldwin,  of  New  York,  and  Secretary  of  the  College 
Society,  responded  to  this  sentiment. 

Mr.  B.  said,  in  substance,  that  he  was  happy  to  respond  to  the  senti- 
ment, for  his  judgment  and  his  heart  went  with  it ;  but  then  he  had  two 
difficulties  :  His  connection  with  the  society  was  such,  that  it  seemed 
like  testifying  in  his  own  case ;  and,  moreover,  he  was  very  much  in 
the  condition  of  the  advocate  at  the  bar,  who  complained  that  the  case 
of  his  client  was  too  clear  to  afford  much  opportunity  for  ingenuity  in 
argument.  The  nobleness  of  the  agency  in  question  would  depend  upon 
the  character  of  the  ends  to  be  secured.  The  object  of  the  society  was 
"  to  afford  assistance  to  Collegiate  and  Theological  Institutions  of  the 


44 

West."  That  it  was  a  noble  end  to  found  and  sustain  such  institutions 
had  been  most  clearly  and  abundantly  shown  in  the  historical  discourse 
to  which  we  had  that  day  listened.  There  was,  therefore,  really  no  oc- 
casion for  argument.  By  looking  back  over  a  quarter  of  a  century,  we 
could  see  a  great  work  accomplished  here  ;  but  how  much  more  would 
this  be  true,  if  we  could  take  our  stand-point  at  the  distance  of  half  a 
century,  and  so  on. 

He  had  not  changed  his  views  for  the  last  twenty-five  years.  When 
the  association  was  formed  at  New  Haven,  one  of  the  conditions  on 
which  its  members  pledged  themselves  to  the  enterprise  was,  that  it 
should  be  deemed  practicable  by  intelligent  men.  Young  men  were 
apt  to  be  enthusiastic,  and  however  feasible  the  scheme  might  appear 
to  them,  the  whole  would  be  pronounced  visionary,  perhaps,  by  older 
and  wiser  heads.  So  it  was  agreed  that,  as  far  as  possible,  they  should 
take  counsel  of  age  and  experience.  He  recollected  one  case — a  minis- 
ter of  distinction  in  Connecticut  was  consulted  by  himself,  and  the  an- 
swer was  in  a  tone  that  seemed  so  sarcastic,  that  it  fell  upon  him  like  a 
thunderbolt  from  a  clear  sky.  "  0,  yes ;  he  had  heard  that  a  company 
,of  young  men  had  formed  an  association  at  Yale  College;  that  they 
were  going  out  to  the  State  of  Illinois  to  found  a  college,  &c.,  and  were 
going  to  kindle  a  fire  there,  and  pour  on  oil  till  its  blaze  should  illumi- 
nate the  tops  of  the  Rocky  Mountains ! "  The  general  voice,  however, 
was  in  favor  of  the  enterprise,  and  it  was  undertaken. 

After  laboring  a  year  and  a  half  in  this  State,  Mr.  B.  met  this  same 
clergyman  in  the  streets  of  New  Haven,  and  there  reminded  him  of  the 
above  speech,  and  added,  "  Now,  by  the  help  of  God,  we  are  going  to 
do  the  very  thing  which  you  said  we  were  about  to  attempt."  But  the 
thing  had  already  been  accomplished,  for  an  influence  had  gone  West- 
ward, and  the  Society  which  Mr.  B.  represented  was  now  granting  aid 
to  institutions,  not  only  in  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois,  Wisconsin,  Iowa,  and 
Missouri,  but  in  OREGON. 

He  believed,  also,  that  the  society  was  a  noble  agency,  judged  not 
only  by  its  ends,  but  by  its  results.  It  came  into  being  after  the  pecu- 
niary revulsions  of  1837  had  swept  every  thing  prostrate  at  the  West, 
and  despair  was  settling  down  upon  some  of  the  noblest  enterprises  of  the 
age.  The  President  of  this  college  had  testified  to-day  to  the  effect  that 
it  had  been  saved  from  ruin  through  the  instrumentality  of  the  Society, 
and  similar  testimony  had  been  given  by  the  conductors  of  Wabash 
and  Marietta  Colleges  and  others,  and  this  was  of  itself  a  great  work. 
When  such  an  institution  went  down,  it  was  like  the  sinking  of  a  noble 
steamship,  with  all  its  precious  freight,  in  mid  ocean. 


6.  Tun  FIRST  GRADUATE  :  His  honors  and  those  of  his  Alma  Mater  are  one. 

This  sentiment  called  out  the  Hon.  Richard  Yates. 

He  said  that  the  call  upon  him  was  unexpected,  and  he  labored 
under  the  difficulty  of  not  having  heard  the  speeches  which  had  pre- 
ceded his ;  that,  in  addressing  an  audience  so  literary,  he  could  scarcely 
hope  to  escape  criticism,  and  therefore  would  have  preferred  at  least  a 
few  moments  of  premonition  of  what  is  now  expected  from  him.-  The 
occasion  was  one  which,  in  a  readier  speaker,  would  inspire  eloquence. 
The  bright  eyes  of  the  beautiful  beam  so  animatingly  upon  us,  and  the 
sympathies  of  men,  united  in  a  great  enterprise,  were  so  heartfelt  and 
encouraging,  as  to  make  us  feel  cheerful,  if  not  eloquent.  So  far  as  he 
was  concerned,  he  must  be  allowed  to  talk  without  aspiring  to  the  dig- 
nity of  a  speech.  The  occasion  was  one  in  which  the  heart  rather  than 
the  mind  was  inclined  to  assert  its  sway,  and  when  the  "  feast  of  reason  " 
was  to  yield  to  the  "  flow  of  soul."  It  was  an  occasion  of  commingled 
pleasure  and  sorrow.  Here  we  meet  the  friends  of  "  far  years,"  here 
is  the  re-union  of  those  who  were  bound  together  by  the  tender  and 
impulsive  ties  of  youth,  and  we  behold  again  the  forms  and  faces  upon 
which  we  loved  to  linger  in  the  days  and  years  of  "  long  ago ; "  this  is 
a  pleasure  indeed.  But  over  the  sunshine  of  our  joy  flits  the  shadow 
of  gloom,  as  we  call  over  the  roll  of  our  youthful  associates,  and  no 
voice  answers,  and  sad  memory  calls  up  fond  faces  upon  which  we  shall 
never,  alas  !  never  gaze  again.  \ 

In  the  sentiment  just  read,  I  am  referred  to  as  the  first  graduate  of 
Illinois  College.  Now,  for  the  honor  of  being  the  first  graduate,  I  have 
always  contended  ;  but  candor  compels  me  to  say,  that  it  is  a  question 
which  admits  of  some  controversy.  At  the  time  I  graduated  I  was  not 
the  only  graduate.  And  most  certainly,  I  did  not  receive  the  first  hon- 
ors of  the  institution.  The  valedictory  was  very  properly  awarded  to 
a  generous  and  noble  classmate,  now  an  eminent  barrister  in  the  State 
of  Kentucky.  But  I  was  not  so  far  behind  as  you  might  suppose,  for  I 
received  next  to  the  highest  honors  of  the  institution — I  was  second 
best.  I  confess,  I  was  somewhat  in  the  condition  of  the  boy  at  school, 
who  boasted  to  his  mother  that  he  was  "  next  to  head,"  which  was  all 
very  well  till  the  hopeful  youth  was  interrogated  as  to  the  number  of 
his  classmates,  and  he  had  to  reply,  "  there  was  only  two  of  us."  In 
this  way  I  received  next  to  the  highest  honors  of  Alma  Mater,  "  for 
there  were  only  two  of  us." 

Well,  my  classmate,  being  a  liberal  fellow,  in  consideration  that  he 
had  walked  off  with  the  valedictory,  out  of  the  plenteousness  of  his 
compassion  and  generosity,  agreed  that  I  should  receive  the  first  di- 


46 

ploma.  Having  received  the  first  diploma,  the  first  commission,  the 
" In  cujus  rei  testimonium"  with  the  "  Collegii  Sigillum  et  Prcesidis 
chirographum"  thereunto  attached,  or,  in  plain  Saxon,  a  beautiful 
sheepskin  with  blue  ribbons  and  big  Latin,  I  made  my  bow  to  the 
President  and  Faculty,  and  walked  off  the  stand  the  "  First  Graduate." 
And  if  I  ever  entertained  any  feeling  of  envy  towards  my  friend  Spil- 
man  on  account  of  his  valedictory,  it  has  always  had  ample  revenge  in 
the  fact  that. I  was  the  "first  graduate." 

Mr.  Yates  said  he  would  not  have  it  inferred  that  he  was  so  very 
old  because  he  was  the  first  graduate  ;  he  was  yet  young,  and  had  all 
the  vigor  of  youth,  but  he  confessed  to  something  like  the  feeling  of  a 
patriarch,  when  he  looked  down  the  long  line  of  his  descendants,  and 
counted  already  over  one  hundred  Alumni  who  had  received  the  hon- 
ors of  the  college.  Should  he,  however,  under  a  propitious  Providence, 
be  permitted  to  be  present  at  the  re-union  of  the  semi-centennial  anni- 
versary of  the  college,  then  he  should  begin  to  feel  a  patriarch  indeed, 
and  would  expect  to  see  the  number  of  the  Alumni  swelled  from  a 
hundred  to  thousands.  Perhaps  the  Alumni  of  these  large  classes  will 
not  pride  themselves  on  their  genealogy,  but  let  them  not  despise  "  the 
day  of  small  things."  We  would  suggest  to  them  that  it  seems  to  be 
the  penchant  of  "  Young  America"  to  take  a  very  comfortable  and  en- 
larged view  of  himself,  and  that  especially  are  Alumni  prone  to  think 
that  all  the  poetry  and  good  things  of  life  converged  into  the  very 
point  of  time  of "  all  the  ages,"  which  covered  their  classical  course. 
But  we  would  have  them  to  know,  that  the  tones  of  our  old  college 
bell  were  as  sweet  in  those  primitive  and  chivalric  days  as  now,  that 
our  academic  groves  were  as  Platonic,  and  quite  as  shady  as  now ;  that 
the  grape,  whose  twining  branches  hung  with  thick  clusters  from  her 
native  oak,  were  quite  as  inviting  as  the  modern  exotic  upon  the  trestles 
of  civilization ;  that  the  prairie,  in  her  rich  native  luxuriance,  and  in  the 
gorgeousness  of  her  tints  and  hues,  was  quite  as  poetic,  though  not  as 
useful  as  fields  of  oats  ^md  corn ;  that  the  breeze  of  the  forest,  even  the 
howl  of  the  wolf,  was  quite  as  musical  as  the  shrill  scream  and  thun- 
dering tramp  of  the  locomotive  ;  that  professors  were  as  grave,  problems 
as  hard,  poetry  as  inspiring,  maidens  as  fair,  and  the  tale  of  love  was 
sung  in  the  "  wood  notes  wild  "  of  our  forests  as  tenderly  and  by  voices 
quite  as  angelic  as  those  of  noiv-a-days. 

I  have  said  in  jest  that  I  have  contended  for  the  honor  of  being  the 
first  graduate — but,  seriously,  is  it  an  empty  honor  ?  As  a  citizen  of  this 
beautiful  town,  surpassing  all  others  in  the  State  and  in  the  Mississippi 
Valley,  not  simply  in  the  beauty  of  its  location,  but  in  its  educational 
facilities,  I  will  not  be  unmindful  of  the  fact  that  the  edifice  on  yonder 


47 

,  » 

hill  was  the  first  beginning,  the  first  impulse — the  cause  of  these  great 
advantages.  When  at  home  and  abroad,  in  the  distant  East  and  South, 
and  in  our  Federal  City,  we  hear  the  praises  of  Jacksonville  as  the 
Athens  of  the  West,  as  the  chosen  seat  of  science — shall  we  forget  the 
source  whence  these  great  blessings  flow  ?  When  we  look  out  upon 
our  magnificent  temples  of  science,  upon  those  monuments  of  legislative 
wisdom  and  beneficence,  our  State  institutions,  the  pride  and  glory  of 
the  State,  our  halls  of  learning  already  erected  and  in  process  of  erec- 
tion in  our  midst,  "  as  glory  wreathed  the  pillars  rise,"  shall  we  forget 
that  Illinois  College  was  the  nucleus  around  which  they  have  clustered, 
and  that  without  this  beginning,  these  institutions  might  have  sought 
some  other  locality,  or  have  been  dispersed  at  various  other  points 
throughout  the  West  ?  Shall  we  forget  the  long  and  self-sacrificing 
efforts  of  the  indomitable  spirits,  who,  undismayed  by  difficulties  and 
reverses  and  opposition,  with  unflagging  energy  and  unfaltering  pur- 
pose, have  carried  forward  this  great  enterprise?  I  am  not  given  to 
adulations,  and  if  it  seems  to  savor  of  mere  eulogium,  I  must  plead  my 
gratitude  and  high  admiration  of  the  man,  as  my  apology  in  saying, 
that  the  disinterested  labors  of  the  honored  head  of  this  institution  have 
had  and  will  have  an  influence  on  the  destiny  of  our  broad  valley,  as 
benign  and  potent  as  that  of  any  one  of  her  proudest  statesmen.  For 
these  and  many  other  reasons  I  desire  to  see  Illinois  College  sustained, 
and  if  the  people  of  the  State  of  Illinois,  in  a  spirit  of  enlightened  policy, 
would  only  cherish  this  institution,  and  sustain  it  with  one  half  the  liber- 
ality and  patronage  lavished  in  other  States  on  their  colleges  and  uni- 
versities, Illinois  College  would  soon  become  to  the  Mississippi  Valley 
what  Yale  and  Harvard  are  to  New  England;  "joy  would  brighten 
and  hope  elevate  her  crest."  Her  catalogue  would  be  graced  with 
names  from  every  State  in  the  Union,  and  she  would  continue  to  go 
forth  on  the  great  mission,  blessing  and  to  bless,  shedding  abroad 
throughout  this  great  valley  the  lights  of  science,  and  sending  annually 
from  her  halls  her  numerous  graduates,  who,  in  their  respective  spheres, 
would  contribute  to  elevate  the  character  and  advance  the  prosperity 
of  our  common  country. 

But  from  the  character  of  the  toast  to  which  I  am  replying,  it  will 
be  expected  of  me  to  speak  OF  the  Alumni  and  TO  the  Alumni. 

I  claim  nothing  for  myself ;  for  any  honors  which  have  been  con- 
ferred upon  me,  I  feel  indebted  far  more  to  the  partiality  of  warm  and 
devoted  friends  and  a  generous  constituency  than  to  any  merij,  of  my 
own.  But  for  my  fellow-students,  for  the  Alumni,  for  the  young  men 
who  have  come  up  from  our  farm-houses,  our  groves  and  prairies,  and 
obtained  their  education  at  our  Alma  Mater,  I  may  be  permitted  to 


-.  48 

speak.  And  in  looking  over  the  list,  I  see  that  they,  scattered  through- 
out the  broad  valley,  have  in  their  respective  spheres  reflected  honor 
upon  their  Alma  Mater.  They  have  been  heard  from  as  Governors  of 
States,  Judges  upon  the  Bench,  members  of  the  Legislative  Assemblies, 
as  among  the  most  eloquent  ministers  of  the  Gospel  in  our  large  cities 
and  villages,  successful  farmers,  mechanics,  physicians,  and  lawyers — 
they  have  been  heard  from  on  the  plains  of  Mexico,  at  Monterey  and 
Cerro  Gordo,  bearing  aloft  the  flag  of  the  stars  and  the  stripes ;  and 
they  have  been  heard  from  as  the  bold  pioneers  of  civilization,  pene- 
trating the  remotest  frontiers  and  planting  in  the  wilderness  the  church 
and  the  school-house,  those  most  stable  foundation-stones  of  free  repub- 
lican governments. 

To  the  Alumni  I  have  only  to  say,  we  owe  duties  not  only  to  our- 
selves and  to  our  country,  but  to  our  Alma  Mater.  Her  interests  and 
her  fame  and  ours,  as  expressed  in  the  toast,  are  the  same.  Each  sol- 
dier in  the  army  of  Napoleon  was  intrusted  with  a  part  of  that  "  armor 
whose  dazzling  light  streamed  in  radiant  lines  over  the  Alps  "  and  the 
plains  of  Italy,  and  to  each  of  us  is  intrusted  a  portion  of  the  fame  of 
our  Alma  Mater.  And  now,  in  the  crisis  of  her  need,  shall  we  do 
nothing  in  enabling  her  to  sustain  her  advanced  position  among  her 
sister  colleges  of  the  West  ?  The  biographies  of  great  men  are  useful 
for  instruction  and  example.  What  student  of  college  who  has  not 
reached  his  sophomoric  year,  has  not  heard  of  what  was  said  by  that 
most  eminent  statesman  who  has  impressed  his  mighty  name  upon 
the  history  of  his  country  and  the  diplomacy  of  the  world,  who,  when 
leaving  college,  turned  to  the  President  and  said,  "  You  will  yet  hear 
from  Daniel  Webster."  And  Dartmouth  did  hear  from  Daniel  Web- 
ster ;  her  very  name  has  become  canonized  by  its  association  with  that 
of  her  illustrious  son.  And  Dartmouth  heard  from  him  not  only  as  the 
compeer  of  Clay ;  not  only  as  swaying  to  and  fro  that  mightiest  of  fo- 
rums, the  American  Senate ;  not  only  as  the  most  renowned  diplomatist, 
the  profound  statesman,  and  transcendent  orator,  but  in  the  darkest  hour 
of  her  fortunes  he  washer  bulwark,  her  successful  and  illustrious  advo- 
cate. And  now,  Alumni  and  students,  though  you  may  never  achieve  a 
fame  like  that  of  Webster,  yet  you  may  be  heard  from  by  your  Alma 
Mater  in  an  humbler  sphere,  and  in  a  way  perhaps  which  may  be  as 
useful  to  her.  You  may  come,  and  induce  others  to  come  to  her  aid 
in  tlie  hour  of  her  need. 

For  one,  I  am  not  the  least  discouraged  as  to  her  prospects.  Men 
are  in  the  front  of  this  enterprise  who  are  determined  to  succeed.  What 
man  can  do  they  will  attempt.  Whatever  can  be  accomplished  by 
human  effort,  by  singleness  of  purpose,  by  unfaltering  industry  and  perse- 


49 

verance,  is  already  secured  to  elevate  this  institution  to  the  first  rank 
among  the  institutions  of  our  country.  Though  she  has  met  with 
reverses,  they  will  be  overcome.  From  the  ashes  of  the  old  edifice  will 
arise  a  temple  of  better  adaptation  and  more  elegant  architecture. 
Though  struggling  against  adverse  winds  for  years,  and  partly  dis- 
mantled, she  will  yet  be  completely  manned  and  rigged,  and  with  all 
her  sails  spread  and  her  banner  floating  in  the  light  of  an  auspicious  re- 
dawning,  she  will  launch  forth  on  a  broad  sea,  and  triumph  over  every 
opposing  billow.  And  when  in  the  years  of  the  future,  her  buildings 
shall  become  splendid  and  commodious,  her  libraries  extensive,  her 
suits  of  apparatus  complete,  her  professorships  well  endowed,  and  her 
funds  ample,  your  timely  aid,  though  small,  will  not  be  forgotten.  And 
though  not  a  stone  of  her  present  buildings  shall  remain,  though  the 
old  ship  may  be  patched  and  renovated  till  not  an  original  plank  in  her 
hull  shall  be  left,  yet  she  will  still  be  remembered  as  the  good  old 
'  Argo,"  which  in  the  early  and  heroic  ages  of  the  West  bore  aloft  the 
golden  fleece  of  science. 

I  conclude  by  saying,  that  at  the  former  re-unions  of  the  founders, 
friends,  &c.,  of  Illinois  College,  they  lacked  the  presence  of  the  ladies. 
How  necessary  female  loveliness  is  to  every  enterprise ;  how  much  we 
missed  them  then,  and  how  much  we  enjoy  their  presen  ce  now,  may  be 
summed  up  in  the  old  familiar  words  of  the  poet : 

"  The  world  was  sad,  the  garden  was  a  wild, 
And  man,  the  hermit^  sighed  till  woman  smiled." 

6.  THE  WEST  that  was  and  THE  WEST  that  is. 

Hon.  Edward  Bates  replied  in  a  brief  speech  full  of  genial  humor 
and  unaffected,  thrilling  eloquence.  It  was  like  sunshine,  gladdening, 
brilliant ;  but  as  it  flashed  from  his  mind  evanescent  and  fleeting,  it  re- 
fused to  be  caught.  Nevertheless,  its  memory  will  long  remain  in  the 
minds  of  those  who  listened  to  the  "  old  man  eloquent." 

7.  KHODE  ISLAND  :  "  A  little  member,  but  it  boast eth  great  things." 

Rev.  Samuel  Wolcott,  of  Providence,  R.  I.,  spoke  as  follows : 
The  sentiment,  my  friends,  which  you  have  received  so  kindly, 
might  be,  in  some  connections,  an  equivocal  compliment ;  but  in  this 
connection  it  has  an  historical  meaning,  which  relieves  it  of  any  doubt- 
ful construction.  It  is  true — both  parts  of  it  are  true.  Rhoda  is  a  "  lit- 
tle member  "  of  our  national  confederacy ;  like  Bethlehem,  she  is  little 
among  the  princes  of  Judah ;  but  like  the  Judean  village,  she  is  iden- 
tified with  principles  which  are  immortal.  You  cannot  pronounce  her 
name  without  calling  up  that  of  Roger  Williams,  her  founder,  and  with 


50 

both  are  associated  the  pure  image  of  civil  and  religious  liberty.  And 
that  is  a  "  great  thing,"  the  greatest  thing  in  our  land ;  it  is  the  thing 
of  which  this  little  member  constantly  boasteth,  and  no  man  shall  make 
her  glorying  void. 

From  the  day  that  Roger  Williams  crossed  that  unrivalled  bay  in 
his  solitary  bark,  bearing  this  new  plant  to  a  virgin  soil,  the  bosom  of 
the  Narragansett  has  reflected  the  fair  image  of  Liberty,  and  its  glad 
waters  now  chime  with  no  other  notes.  And  if  the  day  shall  ever 
come  when  the  unrestricted  freedom  of  conscience,  which  is  the  birth- 
right of  her  citizens,  shall  be  abridged,  in  the  slightest  degree,  by  the 
pretensions  of  any  hierarchical  despotism ;  or  when  the  manhood  of  a 
man,  innocent  of  crime,  shall  not  be  the  ample  security  of  his  rights  as 
a  freeman ;  if  ever  a  panting  fugitive  from  oppression  shall  appeal  in 
vain  to  the  descendants  of  Roger  Williams,  for  that  protection  and  that 
hospitality  which  were  so  freely  accorded  to  their  ancestor  in  the  hour 
of  his  need,  by  the  savages  of  the  wilderness,  we  feel  that  the  crown  of 
that  distinction  which  our  little  commonwealth  has  worn  so  proudly 
among  her  sister  States,  would  fall  dishonored  from  her  brow,  and  the 
sun  of  her  glory  would  be  eclipsed  for  ever.  It  is  our  purpose,  God 
helping  us,  that  our  shores  shall  remain,  as  now,  the  sacred  asylum  ot 
civil  and  religious  liberty. 

I  have  responded  to  this  sentiment  the  more  readily,  because  it  be- 
longs most  appropriately  to  the  occasion,  and  to  the  institution  whose 
anniversary  we  are  celebrating.  Our  colleges  are  the  nurseries  of 
free  principles ;  they  were  so  in  the  early  days  of  the  Republic,  and 
they  still  are.  Where,  if  not  among  our  ingenuous  and  educated 
youths,  shall  we  look  for  the  champions  of  those  noble  principles  which 
are  the  inestimable  legacy  of  our  fathers  2  And  to  what  institutions 
may  we  look  with  more  confidence  than  to  those  which  are  located  in 
this  broad,  and  free,  and  fertile  West — partaking  of  the  richness  of  its 
natural  domain,  sharing  its  boundless  vision  and  its  breadth  of  senti- 
ment and  feeling,  imbued  and  inspired  with  its  lofty  freedom,  and  im- 
pressed and  elevated  with  the  greatness  and  grandeur  of  its  destiny  ? 

We  listened  this  morning,  my  friends,  with  unwearied  and  delightful 
interest  to  the  historical  discourse,  combining  with  the  stern  truth  of  his- 
tory all  the  charm  of  romance ;  I  have  never  heard  such  a  narration  com- 
pressed into  such  a  compass.  We  talk  of  "  G-od's  hand  in  history ; "  the 
able  speaker,  this  afternoon,  referred  appropriately  and  impressively  to 
His  hand  in  America ;  and  who  does  not  recognize  His  hand  in  the  his- 
tory which  has  been  unfolded  to-day  2  Within  the  circle  of  my  own 
recollections  I  can  recall  no  project,  enterprise,  or  institution,  which 
appears  vaster  in  its  bearings.  A  quarter  of  a  century  ago,  when  a 


51 

mere  lad  at  college,  I  became  familiar  with  the  faces,  and  interested  in 
the  plans,  of  the  Eastern  founders  of  this  college,  whose  presence  greets 
us  here  to-night,  with  their  brother  and  mine  (Rev.  W.  Kirby),  who 
has  gone  to  his  rest  and  reward.  Meeting  them  here  again  under  such 
auspices,  I  cannot  but  exclaim,  "  What  hath  God  wrought ! "  I  vene- 
rate these  men  and  their  Western  compeers  in  this  work.  Seldom  are  a 
company  permitted  to  accomplish,  in  one  generation,  such  an  under- 
taking ;  and  it  has  been  wrought  out,  like  every  other  good  result,  by 
toil,  self-denial,  and  hardships — by  suffering  and  sacrifice.  Yet,  who 
does  not  feel  that  it  is  worth  a  thousandfold  all  which  it  has  cost  ?  If 
there  be,  on  the  face  of  this  widespread  republic,  a  spot  worthier  than 
the^one  selected,  to  be  the  site  of  such  a  university,  I  know  not  where 
it  is  to  be  found.  And  never  have  I  passed  within  the  columns  of  that 
temple  with  which  God's  own  hand  has  crowned  the  summit  of  that 
hill,  whose  shaded  aisles  will  invite  future  generations  of  students  to 
meditation  and  scholarly  discourse,  without  feeling  that  in  this  new  Ata- 
lantis  of  the  West,  the  magnificent  dream  of  Plato  may  be  more  than 
realized,  and  these  walks  of  learning  be  consecrated  to  a  profounder 
philosophy,  a  higher  wisdom,  than  dwelt  in  the  classic  groves  of  the 
ancient  Academy. 

Illinois  College  is  the  daughter  of  Yale  College ;  the  features  of  the 
parent  are  stamped  upon  the  child ;  and  for  one,  I  honor  the  fidelity 
with  which,  under  every  pressure,  she  has  adhered  to  the  precepts  and 
principles  which  were  impressed  upon  her  infancy.  In  the  career 
which  she  has  chosen,  she  is  destined,  as  I  believe,  to  achieve  her  per- 
fected triumph,  her  final  crown  of  glory.  And  when,  in  the  coming  cen- 
turies, she  shall  have  contributed  her  share  to  the  mental  affluence  of 
this  great  Central  Valley,  and  become  the  Alma  Mater  of  thousands  ot 
its  sons,  it  will  be  deemed  no  disparagement  to  the  mother,  to  address 
the  daughter  in  the  words  of  the  Latin  poet : 

"  0,  matre  pulchra,  filia  pulchrior  !  " 

(0  daughter,  fairer  than  thy  fair  mother.) 

Acknowledging  the  complimentary  allusion  to  the  little  State  from 
which  I  hail,  I  beg  leave  to  offer,  in  return,  a  sentiment  which  I  am 
sure  will  commend  itself  to  the  feelings  of  the  whole  assembly : 

ILLINOIS  COLLEGE — The  child  of  Faith — may  it  ever  be  the  nurse 
of  Freedom ! 

President  Sturtevant  was  called  upon,  and  responded  briefly  and 
appropriately  to  this  sentiment. 

8.  OUR  NEIGHBOES  ON  THE  NORTH-WEST:   The  vine  planted  here  has  sent 
branches  and  borne  fruit  over  the  river. 

Rev.  Asa  Turner  responded,  and  gave  a  highly  satisfactory  and  en- 


52 

couraging  statement  of  the  prospect  in  reference  to  collegiate  education 
in  Iowa. 

9.  THE  SISTERHOOD  OF  COLLEGES  :    Stars  which,  however  they  may  differ, 
derive  their  light  from  the  same  source,  and  help  to  illumine  the  same  heavens. 

This  was  replied  to  by  Rev.  Flavel  Bascom,  of  Galesburg,  111.,  once 
a  teacher  in  Illinois  College. 

It  was  now  about  eleven  o'clock,  and  after  having  sung  "  Auld  Lang 
Syne,"  the  company  separated,  all  regarding  it  as  one  of  the  most  de- 
lightful social  seasons  ever  witnessed  in  Jacksonville. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS-URBANA 

C  IL6CES  C002 

QUARTER  CENTURY  CELEBRATION  AT  ILLINOIS 


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